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Ever)/ w°rk inlfe Senes is published b)p§„ . 
dnan^eiuenf with ff\eAa[K°r t 5 wbmiR^Itgsp&id 



Issued Weekly. Annual Subscription $15.00. Oct. 10, 1880.' 



DEN 


FLORENCE MARRYAT, 

Author op “ On Circumstantial Evidence ” “ Open Sesame/’ 
Etc., Etc. . 


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New York: 

FRANK F. LOVELL & C0..I42-I44 Worth Si 


MOUNT EDEN 


A ROMANCE. 


BY 

FLORENCE MARRYAT, V' a/V "' 
Author of “ Love's Conflict f “ My Own Child f “ The 
Master Passion,” “ Spiders of Society,” etc., etc . 




l N0 n?i? 8 v 

^ V ^sA.n6to^* ^ 


/ 


NEW YORK: 

FRANK F. LOVELL & COMPANY, 

142 and 144 Worth Street. 




Copyright, 1889, 
By John W. Lovely 


MOUNT EDEN. 


CHAPTER I. 

EVELYN. 

She was not a pretty girl by any manner of means, at all 
events at that period of her life. Her most striking features 
were a large and somewhat heavy nose, and a wide mouth. 
But her chin was firm and well moulded, and she had a 
pair of large liquid eyes, set in a noble forehead. Her 
hair — of a reddish tinge, and of which she possessed an 
unusual quantity — was all pushed off her face in a most 
unbecoming fashion, and her plain, black dress was relieved 
by nothing more ornamental than a frill of common lace 
about the throat. Yet there was nothing ordinary about 
her, unless it were the look of extreme weariness with 
which she surveyed the scene before her. It was evening, 
at the close of one of the hottest days in July, and she was 
leaning with both elbows on the sill of her bedroom 
window, trying to inhale a breath of fresh air, and looking 
expectantly up the street as she did so. Such a bedroom 
as it was, too ! An attic at the very top of a dingy lodging- 
house in a back street of Liverpool, with a sloping roof 
that concentrated all the sun’s rays, and made it like an 
oven at that time of the year. Whitewashed walls that 
offered no relief to the wearied eye ; a small iron bedstead, 
a strip of carpet, a common deal washstand and table — 
these composed the luxuries of Evelyn’s sleeping apart- 
ment. In the ceiling was a trap-door that led out upon 
the roof of the house, and had been placed there in case of 
fire. Evelyn often looked at it, and wished she could get 
through and sit upon the house-top, and feel the air circling 
all around her. Once she had mounted on a chair and 
slipped the bolt and lifted the trap-door, but the dirt and 


4 


MOUNT EDEN. 


dust had frightened her from venturing further, and she 
had never tried to open it again. As she looked out of her 
window now, and noted the begrimed pavement, strewn 
with orange peel and dirty pieces of paper ; watched the 
women, with their filthy children, standing in clusters of 
three and four at the corners of the street ; listened to the 
vendors crying shell-fish, garden roots, and decaying fruit 
and vegetables, and inhaled the various smells that saluted 
her nostrils, she drew back into the shelter of her humble 
room with a sensation of disgust. She had lived amongst 
such scenes for years past, but she had never grown accus- 
tomed to them. Liverpool, as it presented itself to her, was 
the most horrible place in all the world, and she would shut 
her eyes sometimes and try to recall the country scenes in 
which she had once dwelt. It was not so very long ago, 
after all, since she had been there ; though sometimes, in 
her desolation, it seemed ages. Evelyn was seventeen 
years old, and half that time she had lived where she now 
was, till the past had faded to a misty, far-off dream. On 
her window-sill there stood three stunted, unhappy-looking 
little plants — a verbena, a scarlet geranium, and a musk. 
She had bought them as mere seedlings, and had carefully 
tended them ever since, and they had so far rewarded her 
care as to advance to maturity and blossom. Often, when 
she had a minute to spare, she would rub her fingers over 
the leaves of the verbena, or bury her nose in the scarlet 
geranium, and try and bring back some recollection of the 
place in which she had delighted long ago. The stream 
where the large blue forget-me-nots grew, and the fields 
laden with ripe corn, and the nut-bushes and wild briar 
roses that hung over the country road ; and she would 
long, with a feverish longing, to get away from her present 
surroundings, and be (if it were only a servant) in the 
fresh, cool country again. That is, she would have so 
longed, had it not been for one thing that bound her to 
Liverpool. As the remembrance of it arose, a faint color 
came into the girl’s cheeks, and she hid her face in the 
musk plant and geranium, that, like herself, were struggling 
for existence in the close, murky air of her bedroom 
window. 

“ Evelyn ! ’’called a shrill voice from the narrow staircase. 
The girl started from her reverie. 

“ Yes, Aunt Maria.” 


MO UNT EDEN. 


s 


“ Where are you ? What are you doing ? ” 

Evelyn opened the door and confronted the questioner. 

“ Nothing, aunt — that is, nothing in particular.” 

“ Good gracious me ! ” cried Miss Rayne, “ you ought to 
be ashamed of yourself. Here am I, toiling morning, noon 
and night to keep a decent home above our heads, and 
you can sit down and do ‘ nothing in particular ! ’ ” 

“ It is only for the moment. I have been working, too,” 
replied Evelyn, with a quiet dignity that always made her 
seem older than her aunt when it came to an argument 
between them. “ I have made the pastry for to-morrow, 
and I have mended all Will’s shirts,” pointing to a heap of 
linen on the bed. 

“ Will’s shirts, indeed ! ” exclaimed Miss Rayne, with a 
sniff. “ Let Will find some one else to mend his shirts.” 

“ Oh, aunt, how can he, with the miserable salary that 
Uncle Caryll gives him ? ” 

“ Well, he must ask for more pay, then. When Mr. 
Caryll begged me, as a favor, to take the lad into my 
house, and board and lodge him for a pound a week, he 
didn’t say anything about the mending of his linen. Will 
takes quite enough advantage of my kindness as it is. 
-He’s not my nephew, you must remember.” 

“No, aunt, but he’s my cousin.” 

“ Rubbish ! That doesn’t oblige you to turn into his 
factotum. You are my own brother’s child, and as* such 
I’m bound to take an interest in you ; but except that 
your poor mother was one of them, these Carylls have no 
claim on me. Indeed, I often wish I had kept out of their 
way altogether.” 

“ Uncle Caryll doesn’t trouble us much,” said Evelyn, in 
a low voice. 

“ No, my dear ; that’s just where it is. A man rolling in 
money, without kith or kin, as you may say (except this 
lad and yourself), and he barely keeps him, and takes no 
more notice of you than if you were so much dirt. Why 
are all his favors (such as they are) to be conferred upon 
William Caryll ? What have you done that you should be 
left out? You’re quite as much his flesh and blood as 
your cousin. His sister’s daughter is as near to him any 
day as his brother’s son. And you’re a Caryll, too, all 
over, whilst Will takes after his mother’s family.” 

“ He hasn’t done so much for Will, either,” said the 
girl, as she folded up the shirts, preparatory to putting 


6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


them away. “ He has made him a clerk in his counting- 
house, and gives him a pound a week for his clothes and 
pocket-money.” 

“ And pays me precisely the same sum for keeping him 
in food and lodging. It’s disgraceful ! ” interposed Miss 
Rayne excitedly ; “ and some one ought to tell the old 
man so. Particularly — if what folks say is true — and he 
means to leave Mount Eden to Will.” 

“ Aunt ! ” cried Evelyn, dropping the shirts upon the bed 
again, “ is that really the case ? ” 

“ Well, my dear, it was told me in confidence, so you 
must be sure not to repeat it ; but Mr. Gamble was called 
in to witness your uncle’s will the other day, and from a 
few words dropped by the lawyer, and from a few more he 
couldn’t help seeing, he quite thinks Mr. Caryll has nomi- 
nated your cousin his heir, instead of his son Hugh.” 

“ Poor Cousin Hugh. But is it quite — quite sure, auntie, 
that he will never be heard of again ? ” 

“ As sure as anything can be in this world. The poor 
boy ran away to sea, and was drowned by the upsetting of 
a boat in the surf in the Bay of Callao. His body was 
never found again. They say the boat must have hit him 
on the head as it turned over. It was a terrible shock at 
the time for your poor uncle, but it is five years and more 
since it occurred. Hugh would have been three-and- 
twenty had he lived ; but since he is gone, and we none of 
us can take our money away with us, it is only natural 
Mr. Caryll should think of those who have a claim upon 
him.” 

“ I am so glad ! I hope it is true,” said Evelyn, with a 
suspicious sound in her voice like tears. “ How happy it 
will make poor Will. And he is so fit for the position, too. 
He hates work. He would always be miserable as a poor 
man.” 

“Well, I’ve no patience with you, Evelyn,” replied her 
aunt testily. “ Instead of being angry with your uncle for 
his injustice to yourself, you can only think of the benefit 
that will accrue to your cousin. And what has he done 
to deserve it more than you, I should like to know? ” 

“ Oh, he is a man , or he will be,” said Evelyn, with her 
grave smile. “ He will help Uncle Caryll in his business, 
and, I daresay, take a deal of trouble off his hands. I 
couldn’t do that, you know ; and it is only fair that Will 
should have his reward. And uncle is not an old man. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


7 


He is not sixty. He may live for twenty years yet. Will 
may have a long apprenticeship to serve before he comes 
into Mount Eden.” 

“ Mount Eden, indeed,” snorted Miss Rayne. “ It's sick- 
ening to think of that boy coming into Mount Eden. Why, 
the porter’s lodge would be too good for him.” 

“ Is it such a beautiful place as all that, Aunt Maria ? 
Have you ever been there ? ” 

“ Once — in your father’s lifetime, and then only for a day. 
But it’s the most beautiful place you ever saw, Evelyn. 
More like Paradise than anything else. It’s rightly named. 
But it should have come to you (or, at the least, the half 
of it), and I’ll maintain that to my dying day.^if 

“ To me ! O aunt, what nonsense ! ” cried Evelyn, with 
a blush that deepened as she heard the rattle of the front 
door lock ; “ there’s Will,” she added, taking a step towards 
the stairs. But her aunt barred*the way. 

“ Now, Evelyn,” she said, “ I am not going to let you 
lower yourself by fussing over that boy till you’ve done 
your duty. Mr. Gamble is going to the theatre to-night, 
and wants a nice little supper fetched against he comes 
home. And Miss Fletcher says she can’t eat Sarah’s 
toast, so you must make it for her yourself. I can’t afford 
to lose my lodgers through your running about after Will 
Caryll.” 

Evelyn sighed, but made no remonstrance. 

“ What am I to fetch for Mr. Gamble’s supper, aunt ? ” 

“ Well, I should think half a pound of Bologna sausage, 
and a little salad, would be about the thing; or you 
might get him some fish, if it’s cheap to-night, and potato 
cakes. Mr. Gamble likes fish for his supper, I know.” 

“ Eve ! ” shouted a youthful voice from the dining-room 
floor; “ Eve, where are you? Come down and give me 
my tea; I’m in a hurry.” 

The girl made for the door. 

“ Now, Evelyn, remember I depend on you for Mr. 
Gamble’s supper and Miss Fletcher’s toast.” 

“ I will attend to them both, auntie.” 

“ And no bacon for that boy’s tea, mind. He’s eaten 
more than a pound of bacon in a couple of days. I never 
agreed, when I took him in for twenty shillings a week, to 
find him in more than bread and butter.” 

“ But he is so hungry,” remonstrated Evelyn, with her 
hand on the door. 


8 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Let him go to his rich uncle, then, and ask for more 
money. It’s not coming out of my pocket, I can tell you ; 
I don’t like him well enough. No bacon, mind, and no 
cold meat. If he wants an egg he can have it, but my 
means will go no further. There he is calling again. I 
never heard anything like it in my life. One would think 
the whole house belonged to him, but he isn’t at Mount 
Eden yet, and he’ll have to find that out,” said Miss Rayne 
indignantly, as she marched off to her own room. 

Evelyn dashed after her, and flew downstairs. In the 
back dining-room — the only apartment which their poverty 
permitted them to reserve for their own use — stood a young 
man— a lad, indeed, in years, being .only twenty, but tall 
and upright as a dart, and handsome as a statue. His fair 
hair curled close to his head. He had bright, blue eyes, 
rather too pronounced and wide open, a delicate straight 
nose, with closed nostrils, a small mouth, with thin lips, a 
narrow jaw, and a pointed chin. Doubtless he was good 
looking, — unusually so, — but something in his expression 
deteriorated from his beauty. It lay partly in the shifting 
glance of the eyes, which never seemed to look one straight 
in the face, and partly in the weakness of the mouth, which 
was sufficiently open to show two very white teeth in 
front. 

But Evelyn Rayne saw none of these defects. For the 
last two years she had been thrown into daily intimate 
communion with her cousin, Will Caryll, and, in her eyes, 
he was simply perfection, though she had never let any one 
guess that she thought so. This serious, old-fashioned, 
and somewhat ordinary-looking girl had a depth of feeling 
in her unknown to her companions, who, whilst they twisted 
her to their own convenience, had no idea of the thoughts 
that sank deep into her mind, and took root and grew 
there. 

“ I say, Eve, this is too bad ! ” exclaimed young Caryll, 
as she entered the room. “ Here am I waiting for my tea, 
and in a deuce of a hurry to get out again, and there’s not 
a sign of it. Where’s that fool Sarah ? Why hasn’t she 
laid the cloth ? ” 

“ My dear Will, it is only just six o’clock, and you never 
have your tea till half-past. It shall be on the table in five 
minutes. Why are you in such a hurry to-night?” 

“ I’m going out.” 


MOUNT EDEN 


9 


Evelyn’s face fell. It was evident the news was a dis- 
appointment to her. 

“ Oh ! Then the best thing I can do is to go and help 
Sarah.” 

“ Are my shirts ready ? ” 

“Yes. I laid them on my bed. Shall you want any- 
thing more ” 

“ Only a clean white tie. And I think there’s a button off 
my new gloves.” 

“Your ties are in the left-hand drawer, and I sewed the 
button on your gloves last week.” 

“ Thanks, that’s a good girl. And now, do let me have 
my tea. And, I say, Eve, is there anything to eat in the 
house, — something substantial, I mean, — cold meat or 
bacon ? ” 

“ I will manage it,” she answered cheerfully, as she left 
the room. 

It was more of an effort than some might imagine for her 
to answer cheerfully at that moment. She had been look- 
ing forward all day to her cousin’s return, and to a pleasant 
evening spent with him. For it was Saturday, and on 
Saturday Will Caryll received his weekly stipend, and 
always seemed in better spirits for it. He had not to get 
up so early on the following morning, either, so it did not 
signify how late he stayed up at night, and on Saturdays 
he had been used to take his cousin Evelyn for long strolls, 
riding on the omnibus or street tram, into the surrounding 
country, leaving dingy, smoky Liverpool far behind, and 
wandering about all the summer evening with her upon his 
arm. 

These were the girl’s happiest moments, — would prove, 
perhaps, to be the happiest moments of all her life, — 
although she was unconscious why they were so. And 
now, Will was going out somewhere by himself, and she 
must find her Saturday evening’s recreation in toasting 
Miss. Fletcher’s bread, or catering for Mr. Gamble’s sup- 
per. But she did not grumble, even to herself. She heaved 
more than one sigh as she prepared her cousin’s tea-tray, 
but even then she felt a certain pleasure in producing cop- 
pers from her own pocket and running round the corner to 
buy a few shrimps to make his meal more palatable to him. 
And she sat down afterwards to peel them, whilst he ate, 
and would have asked no better fate than thus to minister 
to his wants for the remainder of her life. 


IO 


MOUNT EDEN 


CHAPTER II. 
love’s young dream. 

Will Caryll was very reticent on the subject of where he 
was going that night. He ate his shrimps as fast as 
Evfilyn could peel them, and chatted to her of the events 
of the past day, animadverting strongly on his uncle’s 
meanness and strict surveillance , which prevented a fellow 
ever having a moment to himself. 

“ And he’s so beastly suspicious, too,” he wound up 
with, “ that he never believes a word one says. He asked 
me the other day where I dined, and I told him, and I 
found out afterwards that he’d actually been round to the 
place to learn if it was true. As if a fellow would tell a 
lie about a stupid thing like that ! ” 

“ O Will, that is horrible ! ” said Evelyn, her grave eyes 
dilated witli indignation. “ I could not stand being sus- 
pected of an untruth. Didn’t it make you very angry? 
Didn’t you tell him you are too honorable and too much 
of a gentleman to stoop to a falsehood? ” 

“ My dear girl, it's no good telling the old fool anything. 
He wouldn’t believe me if I did — he’s as obstinate as a 
mule. The only way to deal with him is to get all you can, 
and do as little as you need.” 

“ Oh, but that’s not right,” cried Evelyn. 

“Ah, well, well, you know what I mean. You must 
stick up for yourself if you don’t want to be put upon. I 
plucked up courage the other day to ask the old gentleman 
for an increase of salary. He glared at me as if I had 
offered to poison him. ‘ A pound a week is not much pay 
for a fellow of my age, Uncle Roger,’ said I. 

“ ‘ A pound a week, sir ! What do you mean ? ’ he 
exclaimed. ‘ I pay a pound a week to Miss Rayne for 
your board and lodging, and that makes two pounds a 
week — one hundred and four pounds a year, — double what 
you’re worth.” 

“1 suggested he should pay the two pounds into my own 


MOUNT EDEN. 


II 


hands, and let me provide for myself, but he wouldn’t hear 
of it. He said I shouldn’t pay for my keep at all, then, 
and the bills would come back into his hands. Did you 
ever hear of such an ogre, Eve ? I’m sick to death of it 
all. Sometimes I think I’ll give him notice, and look out 
for a situation for myself. I’d like to see his face when I 
sent in my resignation.” 

“ No, no, Will ! you musn’t do that,” exclaimed Evelyn, 
remembering what her aunt had told her. “Try and be 
patient, there’s a dear boy. Uncle Roger, can do so much 
for you if you keep good friends. It would be folly to 
quarrel with him.” 

“ Of course he must do something for me. I am quite 
aware of that. Since Hugh is dead, I am the next heir, 
and ought to come in for everything when the old man 
kicks. So Pitman says.” % 

“Who is Pitman?” 

“ The chief clerk. I believe he knows more -than he will 
tell me, for he’s very close. But, anyway, it seems a 
beastly shame, if I’m to have all that money some day, — 
fifteen thousand a year, Pitman says, if it’s a penny, — 
that I can’t handle a little more o'f it now. A pound a 
week ! Why, it hardly pays for my dinner ! And I have 
a tailor’s bill three yards long.” 

“ Oh, Will, however will you pay it ? ” 

“ I must leave it to pay itself, Eve. There’s no way out 
of it. And to see the piles of money that go through 
uncle’s office every day ! ” 

“ But that has nothing to do with you, Will, no more 
than if it were through the office of anybody else. It isn’t 
yours.” 

“ I know that as well as you do, but it’s a great tempta- 
tion.” 

Evelyn looked at him wonderingly. Such a thing could 
never prove a temptation to her. 

“ Well, I must be off,” cried Will Caryll, as he bolted 
the last shrimp. “ Is there any hot water in my room ? ” 

“ I will fetch it for you at once,” she answered, as she 
went downstairs. 

In a few minutes he was out of the house, banging the 
hall door after him as if he were glad to get free. 

He had good reason to keep his intentions a secret from 
his cousin. He knew that she would have reason to dis- 


2 


MOUNT EDEN. 


pute and oppose them. For he had two theatre tickets in 
his pocket, and he wanted to take a pretty milliner’s girl 
(with whom he had scraped up a questionable acquaintance 
in the street) to the play. He was looking forward to 
posing as the “ masher swell ” to “ Emily,” and impressing 
her with a sense of his importance in the commercial 
world. But when he arrived at the girl’s residence, he 
found himself doomed to disappointment. Emily had 
been “ one too many ” for him. Some other fellow, older 
than Will Caryll, and probably with more money in his 
pocket, had already made his appearance on the scene, and 
the faithless milliner had left the house under his protec- 
tion. 

Will gnashed his teeth when the truth was rudely blurted 
out to him. There are times in the masculine career when 
it seems a terrible calamity to be too young, and one’s 
youth presses on the brain like a barrier to liberty. This 
was one of them. Will tried to be easy on the matter, 
and to turn it off as a thing of no consequence, but he 
lamentably failed, and no one who saw him could have 
mistaken what he felt. But as he turned away with a care- 
less whistle, his cousin Evelyn came into his mind. The 
pretty milliner had failed him, but Eve would not do so, 
and there were the tickets in his pocket, burning into his 
very soul ; it would never do to waste them. So, half-an- 
hour later, just as Evelyn Rayne returned home with Mr. 
Gamble’s supper, she encountered Will Caryll on the door- 
step. 

“ Will ! ” she exclaimed, with pleased surprise ; “ what 
brings you home so early ? ” 

He could not tell the truth. Fie knew it would lower 
him in her eyes, and he was too conceited to wish to lose 
even the least modicum of admiration from any one of the 
sex. So he temporised by asking her, with one of his sunny 
smiles, — 

44 Cannot you guess ? ” 

“ Indeed, I cannot.” 

“ I went out to buy some tickets for the theatre. I want 
to take you there to-night to see 4 Human Nature.’ Make 
haste and put on your things. We must start at once.” 

Evelyn looked confounded. 

44 O Will, why didn’t you tell me of it before ? ” 

Visions of tuckers she might have tacked in, and rib- 


MOUNT EDEN. 


*3 


bons she might have ironed out, flashed on her imagina- 
tion, and almost melted her to tears. She felt she was not 
fit to go out to a place of amusement with him. 

“ What’s up now, Eve ? ” he demanded. 

“ O Will, do you think I shall look nice enough ? I have 
not been to the theatre for years — not since Mr. Gamble 
took auntie and me to the pantomime at the Rotunda. I 
have nothing to wear but my Sunday frock. And will 
Aunt Maria let me go ? I am half afraid she will say no ! ” 

“ Cut in and ask her, then, and don’t keep me waiting 
all night,” retorted Will. “ But it will be a shame, if she 
refuses. Why, you never have any amusement from one 
week’s end to another. Tell her that Uncle Roger gave 
me the tickets, and desired that you should use one of 
them.” 

“ But did he ? I thought you said you bought them ? ” 
returned Evelyn, regarding him with her grave, question- 
ing eyes. 

“ So I did ; but uncle gave me the money, so it comes to 
the same thing.” 

“ Oh, and you said he was so mean ! ” 

“ Well, a couple of tickets for the dress circle is no great 
gift. But make haste and get leave, Eve, or I shall go 
without you.” 

Evelyn flew on the wings of the wind into the presence 
of her aunt. She was rosy with excitement, and her great 
eyes glowed like two stars. 

“ Aunt Maria, uncle has sent two tickets for the theatre 
for Will and me. May I go ? ” 

“ Theatre tickets, child ! What theatre ? ” 

“ I don’t know, but it’s to see ‘ Human Nature.’ May 
I go?" 

“ Have you got Mr. Gamble’s supper?” 

“ Yes, yes. Such a nice little lobster. Quite fresh, and 
only ninepence. And a beautiful lettuce and some water- 
cress.” 

“ And Miss Fletcher has had her tea ? ” 

“ O aunt, half-an-hour ago, and she said the toast was 
delicious.” 

“ Well, I really don’t se6 why you shouldn’t go, then, 
but you must come straight home afterwards. To think of 
Mr. Caryll sending you a ticket ! He may be going to 
remember his duty to you after all. Who knows ? ” 


14 


MOUNT EDEN. 


Little did Evelyn Rayne care’ about her uncle remember- 
ing his duty to her at that moment. Her cousin filled up 
every crevice of her heart. The prospect of an evening 
spent with Will at the theatre in the present, was more 
attractive than the hope of any amount of revenue in the 
future. 

“ Then I may go ? ” she cried eagerly. 

“ Yes, if your cousin promises to take proper care of you ; 
but don’t yield to any of his persuasions, Evelyn. I haven’t 
much faith in William Caryll. If he doesn’t bring you 
straight home from the theatre, just jump into an omnibus 
and come back by yourself. Do you understand me ? ” 

“ Of course I do, auntie ; but Will will bring me straight 
home. Oh, how good it is of you to let me go.” 

Her warm heart was overflowing with gratitude to every 
one who combined to afford her this simple pleasure. How 
much people lose who have the means to gratify all their 
inclinations. They exchange eagerness for indifference — 
enthusiasm for satiety — expectation for knowledge. They 
give up, in fact, all the zest of life for a languid trouble. 
Their riches have become a punishment too hard to bear. 

“ Auntie says I may go, Will,” exclaimed Evelyn de- 
lightedly, as she rushed past him in the passage ; “ and I 
will not keep you ten minutes.” 

When she came downstairs again, in her best dress and 
hat, and a muslin fichu tied carelessly about her throat, 
Will Caryll was pleased to approve of her appearance. 

“ You don’t look half bad when you’re properly dressed, 
Eve,” he observed, in a patronizing tone ; “ it’s a shame 
Miss Rayne keeps you so shabby.” 

“ Don’t say that, Will,” she answered, as they turned out 
of the hall door and hurried on their way. “ Auntie gives 
me as much as she can afford, and I can’t tell you how 
sorry I am to be a burden to her. How I wish I were 
a boy, and could work for myself as you do. But I have 
had no education to speak of. I am utterly useless, except 
to help to look after the house.” 

“ That’s the best thing a woman can do,” said Will, 
“and, when you marry, you’ll find the truth of it.” 

A crimson wave of color surged up into Evelyn’s face. 

“ Marry ! Oh, I never shall do that, Will. I can’t. 
Aunt Maria has kept me ever since I was a little child. 
My father died, and left nothing behind him, — absolutely 


MOUNT EDEN. 


*5 


nothing, — except me and his debts, and she took me in to 
save me from the workhouse. It will be my duty to look 
after her when she is old, and cannot do so for herself.” 

“ That’s rubbish — more than she has any right to 
expect,” remarked Will laconically. “ But we must look 
sharp, Eve, or we shall lose the first piece. Hi ! han- 
som ! ” 

“ Here you are, sir,” replied the cabman, wheeling his 
horse round, and drawing up beside them. 

Evelyn could not believe her eyes. The most she had 
ever dreamt of was that her cousin would take her to the 
theatre in an omnibus or a tram. 

“ Will,” she whispered, in an awestruck tone, “ did you 
mean it ? Won’t it be very expensive ? ” 

“ Of course I meant it,” he returned, laughing. “Do 
you want to walk all the way ? If it’s a warm night we 
may stroll home again, but just now time is precious. To 
the Grand, cabby, and hurry up.” 

“ Oh, isn’t it delightful ! ” exclaimed Evelyn, as the horse 
set olf at a swinging trot. “ If I could always hire a han- 
som, I should never want to have a carriage.” 

“ You shall have both carriages and hansoms when I 
come into the Mount Eden property, Eve, for I shall never 
forget what friends we have been — the very best of friends, 
eh ? ” he continued, as he pressed the hand he held in his. 

Evelyn was in a flutter of delight. 

Will had never been more affectionate in his manner, 
nor looked more handsome than he did that night, and she 
watched all he said and did with a proud feeling of pos- 
session. The only thing which disturbed her was the pro- 
bable expense of the hansom cab ; but Will seemed to have 
plenty of money in his pocket, and paid the fare when they 
arrived at their destination without any demur. Then 
they went into their seats — two of the best seats in the 
theatre — and for the next three hours the girl could think 
of nothing but the scene before her, and the actors who 
took part in it. 

Will did not seem as interested as she was. He had 
often been to the play, and the novelty of the thing was 
past for him. But he was very kind and attentive. He 
slipped out of his seat several times between the acts, 
coming back more demonstrative and affectionate after each 
absence, and pressing Evelyn to take coffee, and ices, and 


i6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


all sorts of things to which she was unaccustomed. But, 
as for her, she felt as if she had been transported to heaven. 
The drama enchanted her, but her cousin’s kindness pleased 
her still more. Her large, soft eyes sought his gratefully, 
even whilst she modestly declined his offerings ; and his 
generosity delighted her so much, that she forgot to wonder 
where the money came from which he wished to throw 
about so freely. But when the evening’s amusement was 
concluded — when the lights were out and the curtain had 
dropped for the last time on the mimic world which had 
seemed so real to her — and they were walking back together, 
the fear that Will might be outstripping his means recurred 
to her. They had left the noisy traffic of the principal 
streets behind them by that time, and were treading the 
(comparatively speaking) quiet road which led to their 
home. 

“ Will, dear,” she said, a little timidly, “ I am so much 
obliged to you for taking me out to-night. I have enjoyed 
myself beyond measure, but I am afraid it must have cost 
a lot of money. You must not be extravagant, you know, 
or you will make me miserable. Hasn’t it made a great 
hole in your week’s salary ? What will you do if you run 
short ? ” 

“ That’s no affair of yours, my dear,” he said gaily. “ All 
you have to do when I take you out is to enjoy yourself 
and look your best, and leave the rest to me. And you 
have been looking your best to-night, Eve. I was quite 
proud of you. I believe in a year or two that you’ll be 
quite handsome. Your eyes are glorious, and when you 
are happy you get such a nice color.” 

“ O Will ! ” she cried, blushing all over, “ what nonsense 
you do talk. I can never be that, and you must know it. 
But if you think I am — nice, it is all I care for.” 

The words came out with a burst, from the very bottom 
of her heart, but they conveyed no news to Will Caryll. 
There had been love passages between these two before — 
very innocent, but unmistakable. N othing definite, perhaps, 
but warm looks, and soft whispers, and touches of the hands, 
that had left an indelible impression on the heart of Evelyn 
Rayne. And just now Will Caryll was moved as well. 
The time and the proximity — to say nothing of the wine he 
had imbibed at the theatre, and the real liking he enter- 
tained for his cousin — were having their effect upon the 


MOUNT EDEN. 


17 


young man, and likely to make him say a great deal more 
than he intended. 

“ Think you nice /” he repeated, with a fervent pressure 
of the arm which was slipped within his own. “ I should 
think I did think you nice. Why, Eve, you’re the very 
best girl in all the world to me ! What should I do without 
you ? Who is it mends my linen, and looks after my 
meals, and makes me comfortable in every possible way, 
unless it is yourself? Do you suppose I don’t know that? 
Why, I couldn’t live a week with Miss Rayne and all her 
fidgety ways if you were not there. You’re everything to 
me, Eve. But you shall have your reward some day. 
Some day, when I am rich and prosperous, and the owner 
of Mount Eden, you shall see that I have not forgotten 
what you have done for me.” 


CHAPTER III. 

A FALLING STAR. 

“ But I don’t want any reward,” said the girl shyly ; “ I do 
it because — because — because — ” 

“ Because why ? ” he demanded, looking down upon her 
triumphantly. 

“ Because you are my cousin,” she answered more firmly; 
“ and it is pleasant to wait on you. If relations cannot 
help each other, who will ? ” 

Young Caryll did not like this general way of putting it. 
“ That’s all very fine, Eve, but you don’t mean it. Uncle 
Roger is your relation as well as myself, but I’m sure you 
wouldn’t care to wait upon him.” 

“ But I have never seen him, Will, except once — long 
ago — when poor mother took me to his house, and then I 
was only a little thing of four. I can’t even remember 
what he is like. Do tell me. I am anxious to know.” 

“ He’s as ugly as sin,” replied Will, knitting his handsome 
brows, “ and just as unpleasant. He’s got a long, sallow 
face, with bushy grey eyebrows, and eyes that seem to look 
you straight through, like a hawk, and a mouth that snaps 
together like a rat-trap. However, if he’s going to leave 
me Mount Eden I suppose I must put up with it all.” 


15 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Will, dear,” interposed the girl timidly, “ 1 wouldn’t 
make too sure of that, if I were you. You would be so 
disappointed if it never came true ; and if uncle is so dis- 
agreeable and unpleasant, he might change his mind, and 
leave his money to some one else. Besides, Aunt Maria 
says it is not impossible he might marry again. Other 
men have done it at that age, and so many women would 
take him, just for his money. I have often thought myself, 
since Cousin Hugh was drowned, that uncle might think 
of taking a second wife.” 

“ Eve ! you have the most unpleasant way of looking at 
things sometimes. You generally manage to dash all a 
fellow’s hopes to the ground.” 

“ Oh, no, Will ; don’t say that. I only want to make 
you practical. For, supposing neither of these things 
came to pass, still Uncle Roger may live for a long, long 
time yet. He is only sixty, and that is not old for a man, 
you know. So I hope you will try not to think of, or 
depend in any way on, Mount Eden or the money until it 
is really yours.” 

“ Why, in heaven’s name ? ” he asked her, in an irri- 
table tone. 

“ Because I am so afraid it will make work more distaste- 
ful to you than it is. You don’t love it too well, Will, 
already.” 

“ You are right. I hate it. But look here, Eve. What’s 
the use of telling me not to think about it ? Who could 
help thinking of it ? There is no one else in all the world 
for the old miser to leave it to — except you." 

Eve burst out laughing. 

“ O Will ! what nonsense. As if he would. But if he 
did , it would come to the same thing, for I should give it 
all to you. What good would it be to me without you ? ” 

“ You dear girl ! ” he answered, pressing her arm to 
his side. “ It was just what I was going to say myself. 
We are Uncle Caryll’s only relations. The property musl 
come to one or other of us two. He couldn’t in decency 
leave it to a stranger. And whichever of us gets it, will 
share it with the other. Is that a bargain ? ” 

“ Yes, yes, with all my heart/' cried Eve. 

“ But there is only one way of doing it, my dear,” con- 
tinued Will, as they passed into the shadow of a leafy 
square, “ and that is by marrying each other. Will you 


MOUNT EDEN 


19 


promise to marry me, Eve? — not just directly, of course, 
because we are both too young, but by-and-bye, when I 
earn a decent salary, and my prospects are a little more 
settled.” 

Under the shade of the leafy lime trees, Eve blushed a 
vivid red from brow to bosom. In the quiet of its shut- 
tered houses, Will Caryll could hear the rapid beating of 
her heart. This was what she had been dreaming of for 
a year past, but never hoped to gain — the bright vision 
of happiness that had danced before her waking eyes, but 
burst like a bubble with the sigh that dispersed it. What 
was she — unformed, uncultivated, ill-favored, and ill- 
dressed — that he, the very incarnation of youthful manhood 
and beauty, should stoop to woo her for his wife ? Is not 
this the way that all true, good women receive a declaration 
of love from the man they secretly adore? Are not mo- 
desty and a want of self-esteem the chief characteristics of 
merit as they are of talent ? No true genius was ever self- 
satisfied or affected. No woman, presuming on her natural 
gifts to consider herself superior to the rest of her sex, ever 
turns out satisfactory in domestic life. The more we have 
in this world the less we think of it. As for poor Evelyn, 
she was so overpowered by the idea of her cousin’s conde- 
scension, that she could not answer him for her tears. 

“Won’t you say ‘ Yes?’” whispered Will, as his arm 
stole round her waist : “ or don’t you think you like me 
well enough ? ” 

“ Like you ! O Will ! my darling Will, you know — you 
must understand. But are you sure that I am good 
enough ? ” 

“ Why, of course I am sure. You don’t suppose I want 
a wife with nothing but a pretty face to recommend her, 
do you ? That might be all very well for some fellows, but 
it wouldn’t suit me. I should have all the men running 
after her. No, no ; women are meant to be useful, and 
look after their homes and their husbands, and make them 
happy and comfortable, and no one could ever take such 
care of me as you, Eve. I feel more sure of that 
every day ; and so, when I can afford to set up house- 
keeping, you must marry me and keep me in order, and 
we’ll be as happy as the day is long. Turn your face this 
way, Eve, there’s no one looking, and give me a kiss to 
seal the bargain.” 


20 


MOUNT EDEN. 


What was it tnat she missed (unsophisticated as she was), 
even whilst her young lover’s handsome face was pressed 
against her own? Will Caryll, in his selfishness and vain 
assurance that his proposal must be flattering, couched in 
however careless terms, had overlooked one of the surest 
inroads to a woman’s heart. 

Evelyn Rayne was not really ugly, although she con- 
sidered herself to be so. She was a tall, awkward-looking 
girl, who required filling out to soften down her large fea- 
tures and long, ungainly limbs. She knew this, and she 
lamented over it daily. She thought she was the very 
plainest girl in all Liverpool, and envied every pink and 
white smiling face she met ; but however modest a woman 
may be with regard to her own appearance, she never likes 
her lover to agree with her. She may smile at his weak- 
ness, and consider him prejudiced, or blind, but she loves 
him all the more for his folly, and cannot bear to think 
that this idol of her imagination should view her with the 
same eyes she does herself. 

But though Evelyn felt the want of something in Will 
Caryll’s address, she was too humble to acknowledge it. 
It was too good of him — so she unconsciously argued — to 
want her in any capacity, and she lifted her beaming face 
to his, with a heart over-brimming with gratitude. How 
much better women are to men than men are to women ! 
Were it not that tlfey idealized them thus from first to last, 
elevating their lovers to gods, and seeing the gilding that 
still clings round the fallen idol, how many marriages would 
take place, or last when they were consummated ? The 
humanitarians and social scientists declare that the increase 
of separation and divorce in these days is due to the 
increase of vice. But they are wrong. It is due to the 
advance of knowledge ; and wherever the people have be- 
come freed from the bondage of the Church, and find help 
instead of opposition from the Law, there the women’s eyes 
have been first opened to the weakness of which they have 
been guilty in submitting to tyranny and oppression. 

But Evelyn’s heart was as ignorant as it was innocent. 
This was not the first kiss, by many, that had been ex- 
changed between the cousins, but it was the first that Will 
had ever given her in the character of lover, and Eve felt 
the difference at once, and never again forgot it. It 
changed her from a child to a woman. She walked the 


MOUNT EDEN. 


21 


rest of the way home by his side in a species of silent, 
delirious delight, and more than once he stooped his head 
again to renew the caress. But as they stood on the door- 
step of Miss Rayne’s house, they awoke from their dream 
of future bliss. 

“ I hope your aunt will have gone to bed,” whispered 
Will, as he fumbled with the latch-key ; “ and then we can 
have a few minutes in the parlor to ourselves.” 

But Miss Rayne was not in bed. As soon as they 
stepped into the hall, she confronted them. 

“ Dear, dear ! ” she said testily, “ how late you are. Do 
you know that it’s past twelve ? I’ve been expecting you 
for the last hour.” 

“ I’m very sorry, Aunt Maria,” replied Evelyn, on whose 
cheek and in whose eyes the glow of her new-born happi- 
ness was still apparent; “but the play was not over till 
past eleven, and we walked home.” 

“ Then you should have taken an omnibus. Mr. Gamble 
has been in for a long time, and asking to see Will Caryll. 
He’s waiting for him in the front room now.” 

“ Let him wait, then. It’s past working hours. He’s 
got no right to bother me now,” cried Will who was some- 
what elevated with love and wine. 

Mr. Gamble was the cashier in his uncle’s counting- 
house, in the firm of Caryll, Tyndal & Masters, timber 
merchants. He had lodged with Miss Rayne for some 
years before the lad had ever been taken into the business. 
He was an extremely strict and somewhat stern monitor, 
and anything but a favorite with the youngsters in the 
office, but he was. at the same time, a perfectly just and 
honorable man. 

“ Let old Gamble wait,” repeated Will Caryll recklessly. 
“ He has nothing to do with me till Monday morning.” 

“ Perhaps not, Mr. William,” said the cashier, opening 
the door of his sitting-room, “ but you will acknowledge 
that Mr. Caryll has. On my return this evening, I found 
a note from him that demands your immediate attention. 
Be good enough to step in here.” 

The lad turned red, but was compelled to obey. He 
had only just time to give Evelyn a significant glance 
before Mr. Gamble’s door had swallowed him up and 
closed upon him, as she was left alone with Miss Rayne. 

“ Now, Evelyn, you had better go to bed at once, or I 


22 


MOUNT EDEN. 


never shall get you up in the morning,” exclaimed her 
aunt briskly ; “ you are looking quite fagged out.” 

She was indeed looking tired. All the beautiful, rosy 
flush had faded from her face, and her eyes were strained 
and anxious. 

“ O auntie, do let me stay till Will comes back. I want 
so much to hear why Mr. Gamble wished to speak to him. 
He looked so cross. Do you think there can be anything 
wrong ? ” 

“Wrong? Nonsense! Of course not ; unless Will’s 
been inking the desks, or cutting up the stools, or doing 
some other stupid, boyish trick. Your uncle’s not the 
man to stand anything of the sort. He’s very particular. 
I remember your mother saying that his own wife didn’t 
dare disobey him. He’d disinherit Will Caryll to-morrow 
if he offended him. And a good job, perhaps, if he did. 
It might make him think of you. For why his brother’s 
son should have everything, and his sister’s daughter no- 
thing, beats me altogether. It’s neither sense nor justice, 
and it’ll bring down a judgment on him ; and some day I 
shall go up to the office and tell him so.” 

“ O auntie, dear, don’t worry yourself about that. It 
will all come right in the end,” replied Evelyn, with a 
beautiful smile on her face ; “ only I should like to hear 
what uncle can have written to Mr. Gamble about.” 

“ Then your curiosity won’t be satisfied till to-morrow 
morning, Evelyn Rayne, for you’re going up to bed at 
once,” said her aunt, as she pushed the girl before her up 
the stairs. 

Eve gave one wistful glance at Mr. Gamble’s closed 
door through which the cashier’s voice could be heard 
speaking in very grave and measured tones, and submitted 
with a sigh to be elbowed up to her room. But when she 
reached it, she did not remove her things, but sat on the 
edge of her bedstead, listening for Will’s step upon the 
stairs. She felt that she could not sleep until she had 
seen her cousin and learned the result of his interview with 
the cashier, for she felt frightened and nervous — she hardly 
knew why. She loved Will dearly, but she had not much 
faith in him. He seemed to carry off all his duties with 
such a high and careless hand. His step was long in 
coming. The voices in the little parlor below seemed to 
wax louder and louder, till they rose to an altercation, and 


• MOUNT EDEN. 


23 


then Mr. Gamble seemed to say something that appa- 
rently left him master of the field, for his hard, incisive 
tones continued to sound alone for some time afterwards, 
whilst Will listened in silence. 

Evelyn’s heart began to ache for him. 

What was that horrid Mr. Gamble saying to her darling 
to humble him like that ? How she longed to be able to 
go down and be present at the interview, of which her 
betrothal of that evening seemed to give her the right to 
be an auditor. But she knew that was impossible. All 
she could do was to wait tilf Will came upstairs to his own 
room, which lay next to hers, at the back of the house, to 
give him a' last assurance of her love and sympathy. So 
she resigned herself to dreaming over again of that happy 
hour she had passed with him whilst coming home, and 
wondering, with all the humility of her loving heart, how 
such a blessing could have fallen to her share. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Gamble was saying to her piece of 
perfection below — 

“ It’s a mysterious business altogether, Mr. William, and 
one that we don’t like.” 

“ Well, I know nothing of the matter, sir.” 

“ That is where the fault lies. You should know some- 
thing of it. It is your business to know. The stamp and 
paper outlay is in your department, and Mr. Caryll ex- 
pects a strict account to be kept of both. It is only right 
it should be so. No business can be properly conducted 
without every expenditure being accurately checked. We 
have never had any error of this kind in the office before, 
and it reflects on everybody employed there.’’ 

“ That’s just it,” cried young Caryll ; “ everybody is 
asking for them each minute of the day, and it is 
impossible to note down every postage stamp that is used. 
They don’t leave me alone two minutes together, either. 
I’m in and out of my desk like a Jack-in-the-box. How 
on earth can I be responsible for the clerks taking the 
stamps and papers when I am not there ? ” 

“ We are not accustomed to robbery in Water Street, 
Mr. William,” replied Mr. Gamble drily ; “ all our clerks 
are tried and honest men who have mostly been with us 
for years.” 

“ Every man is honest till he’s proved to be a thief,” 
said Will insolently. 


24 


MOUNT EDEN 


“ Do you mean to accuse anybody, sir ? ” 

“ No ; but I mean to excuse myself. My uncle charges 
me with carelessness in keeping my books. I won't 
acknowledge it. I have entered all my own transactions 
carefully, but I can’t be answerable for what other people 
may do.” 

“ Well, sir, you’ll have to be more careful for the future,” 
replied the cashier, “ for it has come to Mr. Caryll’s ears, 
and he seldom passes over a fault for the second time.” 

Will had grown very red and angry during this discus- 
sion. 

“ You seem to forget that I am Mr. Caryll’s nephew and 
nearest relation,” he said haughtily. “You are talking to 
me, Mr. Gamble, as if I was the office-boy.” 

“ No, Mr. William, I forget nothing ; but neither, will 
you find, does Mr. Caryll, even though you are his nearest 
relation. He is a just employer, but a very strict one. 
So I advise you to keep your books more accurately for 
the future. And that is all ! ” 

“ I don’t want your advice, and I shall go and see my 
uncle to-morrow and speak to him about it myself,” retorted 
Will, as he left the room and slammed the door after him. 

He had appeared very brave whilst he was in Mr. 
Gamble’s presence, but he did not feel so as he quitted it. 
It was a most unpleasant charge to have brought against 
him, and something very like fear knocked at his heart as 
he hastily reviewed the incidents of the last few days, and 
wondered in what he had been so careless as to leave his 
carelessness open to discovery. His handsome face was 
looking rather white and drawn as he walked slowly up the 
narrow staircase, and approached Evelyn’s room. As he 
drew near it, the door softly opened, and showed her 
standing on the threshold, ready to comfort him. But Will 
was in no gracious mood just then. The great event of 
the evening, which filled Evelyn’s heart, and mind, and 
brain, had evaporated from his memory under the unplea- 
santness to which he had been subjected. He was per- 
plexed and ill at ease, and all he wanted was to be alone, 
and think the matter out. Eve’s glowing, trustful face was 
a reproach to him, and he attempted to pass her with an 
ordinary good-night. 

“ O Will, don’t leave rhe yet,” she whispered entreatingly ; 
“ stop a moment and tell me the news. What was it all 


MOUNT EDEN. 


25 


about ? How has it ended ? It made me so nervous 
to hear Mr. Gamble speak to you in such a tone. Why is 
he angry ? ” 

11 Nervous /” he repeated irritably ; “what should you 
be nervous about ? It was only a matter of business. 
Go to bed, like a good girl, and don’t make a fool of your- 
self, or we shall have Aunt Maria and Miss Fletcher up in 
a minute to know if there are burglars in the house.” 

Evelyn shrunk back disappointed. 

“But won’t you tell me what it is, Will? I have been 
sitting up all this time Only to hear.” 

“ Woman’s fatal curiosity,” he said, with an uneasy 
laugh. “ And you’ve been listening with all your might, I 
suppose, trying to find out ? ” 

“ Oh, no ; don’t think me so mean as that. I would 
rather never know than listen. But is it a secret ? ” she 
added, more timidly. 

“ It’s nothing that concerns you, my dear, and so good- 
night,” he said turning the handle of his door. 

“ Will,” whispered Evelyn, starting forward, “ you’re not 
sorry, are you, for what happened this evening ? I’ve 
been thinking of it whilst you were downstairs, and 
wondering if it can really be true. It has made me so 
happy. Are you sure — quite sure — you will be so too ? ” 

“ Oh, don’t worry me now,” he answered impatiently. 
“ I cannot answer you. I have other things to think of. 
Happy? Of course I shall be happy, but just at this 
moment I am too tired to think of anything but bed.” 

Then, seeing her earnest face, with its two big eyes 
shining upon him, and a wistful expression in them that 
looked like the forerunner of tears, he somewhat repented 
of his curtness, and turned towards her again. 

“ Good-night, my darling,” he said, with a hasty kiss ; 
“ go to sleep now, or you will be tired to death to-morrow 
morning.” 

But Evelyn could not go to sleep. The kiss was burn- 
ing on herface, and the fond name ringing in her ears, and 
yet there was a void somewhere in her heart which 
remembrance could not fill. Everything had seemed so 
bright and easy a short hour ago, and now a falling star 
seemed to have shot across her sky and left it dark again. 
What was the reason ? 


36 


MOUNT EDEN. 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE OATH. 

But, with the morning light the evening cloud dispersed. 
It was a bright, sunny Sunday, and Evelyn rose from her 
bed, happy and hopeful, and all eagerness to renew the 
pleasure of the night before. After which, it was disap- 
pointing to find that Will did not appear at breakfast, but 
had told Sarah to carry up a cup of tea to his room instead. 
She would not confess it to herself, but she wished he had 
been as anxious to see her again, under the new relation- 
ship they bore to one another, as she was to meet him. 
She mourned in silence, but Miss Rayne was loud in her 
denunciation of his indolence, and declared that Will 
Caryll always reminded her forcibly of the idle apprentice 
in Hogarth’s picture, and she firmly believed he would 
come to the same bad end. 

“ Lying in bed, indeed, and on a Sunday morning, just 
for all the world as if he were the Prince of Wales ! ” she 
wrathfully exclaimed. “What next, I wonder? As if 
Sarah hadn’t enough to do with getting ready the Sunday 
dinners, without running up and down stairs after him. 
You shouldn’t have sent his tea up, Evelyn. If Mr. Will 
Caryll is too fine to come down to breakfast, let him go 
without it. I only wish his uncle could see him now.” 

“ Let us be thankful he can’t,” replied Evelyn, with a 
faint laugh. 

“ Ah ! but he’ll hear of it, though, as sure as my name’s 
Maria Rayne. I won’t stand anymore of Master Will’s 
nonsense. If he can’t behave himself properly, let him go 
somewhere else. I’m sure the miserable sum he pays for 
his board and lodging won’t be missed. I could let his 
room alone for the same price to-morrow.” 

Evelyn left her seat, and put her arms round her aunt’s 
neck. 

“ I 'know you could, auntie, but I’m sure you won’t,” she 
said coaxingly. “ Will won’t do it again, if you ask him ; 


MOUNT EDEN. 


27 


and he is not fit to live by himself. He would get into all 
kinds of scrapes without you and me/' 

“ Ah ! there I believe you, Evelyn Rayne ; but I won’t 
stand his airs for all that. And you must leave off spoiling 
him in the way you do. He would be a thousand times 
better if you didn’t coddle him. You make yourself a per- 
fect slave to him, and he thinks the whole household is to 
follow suit ; but he’s mistaken.” 

“ I won’t send up his breakfast another time, auntie. 
But it was only a cup of tea, and Mr. Gamble kept him up 
late last night, and I thought perhaps his head ached.” 

“ What did Mr. Gamble want with him, Evelyn ? ” 

“ I don’t know ; he didn’t tell me.” 

“ He’s been up to some mischief in the office, I’ll warrant. 
Well, I’m glad they’ve found him out, and I hope they’ll 
punish him. A sound whipping would do him all the good 
in the world. But, bless me, it’s past ten ! Go and put on 
your things at once, Evelyn, or we shall be late for church.” 

And so the storm in a tea-cup blew over. But Evelyn’s 
heart was not quite satisfied, even whilst praying for her 
absent young lover in the quiet church. It was very sweet 
to, be able to pray for him as her own possession, and her 
face glowed as she thought that some day they would be 
kneeling thus together side by side, and all the world would 
know that they belonged to one another. But there was 
a cloud hanging over her spirits, even whilst she prayed — 
an undefinable shadow of coming evil, engendered partly 
by the mysterious interview with Mr. Gamble, and partly 
from Will’s own secrecy concerning it. 

But when they returned from church to partake of their 
early dinner of cold beef, and salad, and red-currant tart 
(by the way, why does every British householder consider 
it a point of religious etiquette to make himself miserable, 
not to say unchristian, by eating cold beef on the first day 
of the week?,), her slight fit of despondency evaporated, 
for Will was in the parlor, ready to receive them, looking 
fresh and handsome in his Sunday suit. 

It is true that he still seemed a little gloomy — some 
would have said sulky. He kept somewhat apart from his 
consin and Miss Rayne, apparently occupied in the perusal 
of a Sunday paper, but in reality chafing over the remem- 
brance of the night before. Evelyn felt his altered manner, 
and was unhappy, but dared not attempt to comfort him. 


28 


MOUNT EDEN. 


Miss Rayne put some pointed questions to him about 
Mr. Gamble and his uncle’s message, and was almost told 
by Will, in his turn, to mind her own business. So the 
dinner passed very unsociably, and the early part of the 
afternoon ; and it was a relief to all concerned when young 
Caryll suddenly asked Evelyn to go with him for a walk. 
Her aunt gave a ready consent to the proposal ; she was 
glad to get rid of them. Will Caryll’s manner made her 
angry, and Eve’s evident sympathy with him irritated her. 
She told them to go by all means, and not to come back 
till they could make themselves agreeable. 

“ Old cat ! ” said Will, alluding to Miss Rayne, as they 
left the house together. “ As if any one could make him- 
self agreeable, sitting opposite to such a sour face. It’s 
enough to turn all one’s milk of human kindness to vinegar.” 

Eve did not reply. She was too loyal to join in a laugh 
against her aunt behind her back, but she dreaded lest the 
slightest reproof should increase the perturbation of Will’s 
restless spirit. So they strolled away together rather 
silently, until they had left the crowded pavements behind 
them, and reached the road that led to the cemetery. This 
was a favorite Sunday evening walk of theirs, for both 
Evelyn’s mother and Will’s father lay buried there, amongst 
a whole family of Carylls. It seemed quite natural to 
them, on reaching it, to turn into the familiar path that led 
to their parents’ graves, and it was not till they had arrived 
there that Will made any allusion to the incident of the 
night before. 

But when Evelyn had sat down on the flat stone that 
covered her mother’s resting-place, and commenced to 
make a daisy chain from the daisies that grew in the grass 
around it, he flung himself down on the ground by her side, 
and commenced, suddenly and passionately, — 

“ How I wish I was dead and buried, Eve, with the 
whole lot of them ! ” 

His words hurt Eve terribly. If he really meant what 
he said, it was evident her love had no power to smooth 
over the annoyances of his daily life. And his, she felt, 
could make her contented under the bitterest trials. 

“ 0 Will, darling, how can you say such a dreadful thing ? 
You don’t think of me , nor of what I should feel if your 
wish came true.” 

“ Well, I don’t suppose I shall eve'' be of much good to 


MOUNT EDEN, 


29 


you, Eve. It will be a jolly long time before I make an 
independence at this rate. And then to think of Uncle 
Roger being so mean as to set that old beast Gamble to haul 
me over the coals in that fashion, for a thing that wasn’t 
my fault any more than it was your’s.” 

She knew the confidence was coming now, and, like a 
wise woman (as her after life proved her to be) she would 
not disturb it by a single word. She only drew nearer the 
spot where he had flung himself impetuously down, and 
passed her hand firmly and softly over his sunny hair. 
With that touch his courage seemed to return to him. It 
contained a power and reliability unknown to his weaker 
temperament, and he turned his cheek toward it grate- 
fully. 

“You may as well know the whole truth, Eve,” he con- 
tinued, though half-unwillingly, as though the tale were 
being drawn magnetically from him, and against his will, 
“ for I know you are game, and won’t tell. I have told you 
how stingy Uncle Roger is. I believe he counts every 
wafer and steel pen that comes into the office. The beastly 
things are kept in my department — I mean the stationry 
and stamps, and such like ; and I have to give them out to 
the other fellows as they’re required, and keep an account 
of them. Well, I believe I’ve been robbed. Somebody’s 
been prigging the paper and stamps when my back was 
turned, and my books don’t tally with the expenditure — 
how can they ? — and so there’s a row.” 

“ But why didn’t you lock them up? Is there no con- 
venience for such a purpose ? ” demanded Eve practically. 
“ Has your desk no key ? ” 

The idea of fraud was so foreign to her own nature, 
which was as frank and open as the day, that she could 
conceive no other reason than carelessness for such an 
error. Her questions — simple as they were — seemed to 
make her cousin impatient. 

“ How can I be always locking up ? ” he exclaimed, in 
a tone of annoyance : “ do you imagine we walk about the 
counting-house with the keys jingling in our pockets like a 
lot of old women ? It’s uncle’s business to look after his 
clerks, and keep them in better order. What right have 
they to enter my desk? Not that any one else would ever 
have discovered the loss of a dozen miserable postage 
stamps.” 


30 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Was it only a dozen ? ” asked Eve innocently. 

“A dozen — more or less. I know nothing about it. 
I’ve not even seen the books.” 

“ Will, dear,” said the girl coaxingly, “ you are sure 
you have not been careless with them yourself? ” 

For she remembered to have felt surprised a few weeks 
previously at the amount of postage stamps she had dis- 
covered lying in one of his drawers, at the bottom of his 
collars and handkerchiefs. She had wondered what he 
should have bought them for, for Will had few relations to 
correspond with, and, like all lads of his age, he detested 
letter writing. But she was quite unprepared for the man- 
ner in which her suggestion was received. W ill Caryll shook 
his head free from her caressing gestures as though her 
hand had stung him, and turned round upon her in a regular 
fury. 

“ How dare you say such a thing as that? Do you take 
me for a thief? ” he exclaimed. His angry face and voice 
frightened her, and she burst into tears. 

“ No, no, of course not. O Will, how could you think 
so, even for a moment ? Oh, forgive me, dear. I only 
meant that, when things lie about in such profusion, we 
are all apt to imagine them of little consequence. Is it 
likely I could have meant anything worse than that ? ” 

Will’s face was very white and strained looking, but at 
the sight of her tears it relaxed, though slowly. 

“Whatever you may have meant, Eve, your words 
sounded very strange, and so would any one say who heard 
them. I have told you that I know nothing about it, and 
it’s very hard if you won’t believe me.” 

“ But I do believe you, dear — dearest Will. I believe 
you as I do in heaven. I would die this moment in defence 
of your truth. I wish I had cut my tongue out before I 
had said those silly words,” said Evelyn, still weeping. 

“ Never mind. They are forgiven and forgotten,” replied 
Will magnanimously, as he lifted his face to hers, and 
kissed her tears away. “ I love to receive the assurance 
of your faith in me, Eve, for I may want your help to get 
me out of this scrape — indeed, I do want it, even now.” 

“ Then you have it, Will, before you ask for it,” said 
Evelyn, as she dried her wet face. “ Surely you know 
that. But what can I do for you ? ” 

“ First, give me another kiss. That’s right. Husbands 


MOUNT EDEN. 


3 * 


and wives should never quarrel, and you are almost my 
wife, you know, Eve, and anything I may ask you to do 
you must remember is for vour husband that is to be. 
Will you, darling? ” 

Eve pressed closer to him, and laid her cheek upon his 
shoulder. Her heart was too full to speak. 

“ I’m in an awful mess, my dear, and that’s the fact. 
Now, don’t look so frightened. It’s nothing out of the way, 
and only what was to be expected with the wretched salary 
I receive. What fellow could dress and live on a pound a 
week ? It’s impossible. Go where I will, I can’t get a 
dinner under two shillings ; and this suit I have on cost 
three pounds. And then there are my boots, and collars, 
and shirts, and a dozen small expenses. The man must 
be a fool who expects a pound a week to do all that. I 
told you yesterday, you know, that I’ve got a pressing 
tailor’s bill. They’ve threatened to send it in to my uncle 
for the last six weeks, and I’ve kept them off and off, 
hoping to screw up courage to ask the old miser to give 
me an advance, just to keep them quiet, but this last 
business has spoilt everything. If Todson’s bill is sent in 
on the top of it, it will settle my hash to a certainty.” 

“ I don’t quite understand,” said Eve, with knitted 
brows. 

“ I mean that I shall get my dismissal, and then, perhaps, 
I shall lose Mount Eden, and the money, and everything — 
you into the bargain, Eve, for what chance shall we ever 
have of being married if I am thrown otit into the world 
again? You must help me, darling. You are such a 
clever girl. I am sure that you can manage it.” 

“ But how , dear Will ? What can I do ? ” 

“ Go and see Todson for me to-morrow morning, — I’ll 
give you his address, — and coax him to let the bill stand 
over till I’m a little straight again. Tell him I’m Uncle 
Caryll’s heir, — he’ll believe your word, though he won’t 
mine, — and that I’m bound to have lots of money before 
long, and if they’ll wait my time, I’ll get everything I want 
from them.” 

“But suppose they won't wait, Will ? ” 

“ They must , Eve, or I shall be ruined. They wait 
other fellows’ convenience ; why shouldn’t they mine. ? 
Surely you can make up a tale to satisfy them. They 
think I’m hoaxing them just to put off payment, but if you 


3 2 


MOUNT EDEN 


corroborate my story, they will see there is truth in it. 
You can tell them we’re engaged, if you like, too, just to 
prove you know all about me.” 

“Oh, no, Will! I couldn’t do that” replied Eve, 
shrinking from the idea, “ and I don’t think it would do 
any good either ; but I can only tell them we think you 
will be Uncle Caryll’s heir, dear, because it’s not certain, 
you know.” 

“ It is certain,” returned the young man hotly ; “ Pitman 
has seen the will, and in default of Hugh Caryll’s turning 
up again, I inherit everything. That’s why it seems so 
hard that uncle won’t give me a decent salary now. He 
has thousands and thousands, and I, — his only brother’s 
only son — have nothing. But it can’t be helped, at all 
events for the present, and it’s no good crying for the 
moon. But will you go and see Todson, Eve, the very 
first thing in the morning ? ” 

“ Yes ; if you wish it,” she said, sighing, “ as soon as 
Aunt Maria will let me leave the house. But I have no 
hope of success, Will ; it is so unlikely they will listen to 
what a girl like myself may have to say.” 

“ You must make them listen ! You must talk in a tone 
of authority, and if they still insist upon sending the bill in 
to uncle, tell them he’s gone abroad for an indefinite period, 
and so it will be of no earthly use. And if they won’t hear 
reason, then, by Jove ! I’ll intercept every letter that 
comes to the office till I get hold of theirs, for it shall 
never reach his hands, if I die for it.” 

Eve was silent. Will’s vehemence frightened her, and 
all this subterfuge and fraud was so distasteful to her feel- 
ings, that she could only sit there shrinking, and sick at 
heart. And yet she could not make up her mind to rebuke 
his design, not just now at least, when he was in such 
trouble, and had come to her for comfort. She would not 
acquiesce in his determination, nor show approval of it, 
but she evinced her sympathy in his distress by gentle 
caresses and words of encouragement, and Will returned 
them both so freely, that, for the time being, they were 
perfectly happy, and forgot everything but their mutual 
affection. As the lengthening shadows warned them that 
it was time to go home again, Eve took the rose from her 
belt, and laid it on her mother’s grave. 

“ Poor, dear mother,” she said softly ; “ I wonder if she 
was ever as happy as I am now ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN 


33 


“ You were very fond of your mother, Eve ? ” 

“ Oh, yes ; as fond as a little child who knows nothing 
of death and separation can possibly be. I can remember 
now, how I saw her lie on her couch, and grow weaker and 
weaker day by day, and never thought that she was going 
to leave me. How should I ? If any one had told me she 
was dying, I shouldn’t have known what the word meant. 
And then the last day came, and I was carried to her 
bedside to kiss her for the last time, and she kept on whis- 
pering, * Come to me, my little Eve, come soon ! ’ I shall 
never, never forget it.” 

“ And you want to see her again, I suppose ? ” 

“ Want it, Will ? ” cried Evelyn, with eyes flashing 
through her tears ; “ never a day passes but I think of 
mother and pray for our meeting. I didn’t appreciate her 
whilst she was here — my dear, sweet mother. I was too 
young to know how sad and lonely my life would be 
without her ; but when I meet her again I will tell her how 
I loved and missed her after she was gone. Sometimes, 
Will,” continued the girl, dropping her voice to a whisper, 
“ I fancy — don’t think me foolish or superstitious, dear, for 
I am not that — but sometimes, when you are all in bed and 
asleep, I fancy I hear my mother’s voice, and feel her 
breath upon my cheek. Do you think it can be only 
fancy? It has come so often, and it makes me so glad to 
think she may be there. If she can come back to earth, 
Will, who should she come to but myself?” 

“ Ah, if ! ” replied the lad incredulously ; “ but, you see, 
people don't come back, Eve ; and all the stories you hear 
about ghosts and apparitions are nonsensical lies.” 

Evelyn’s face lowered. 

“ I shouldn’t like to believe that,” she said ; “ it would 
rob me of one of my greatest comforts.” 

“ I am afraid you love your mother better than you do 
me, Eve.” 

The suggestion roused her at once from her reverie. 

“ Oh, no, no ! How can you say such a thing? They 
are such different loves ! I cannot even compare them. 
Had mother lived she would have been my comforter, and 
counsellor, and friend ; but you, Will — you are my world /” 

The fervor and solemnity of her tone, the bright, glow- 
ing face, that swam in excited tears, and the grasp she laid 
upon his arm, all showed what Evelyn Rayne was made 

2 


34 


MOUNT EDEN. 


of, and startled Will Caryll, in spite of his self-conceit. 
Here was a character of which his had not even the power 
to sound the depths, far less to understand and value. It 
was a loving woman, notwithstanding her seventeen years, 
that clung to his arm and pledged a life’s faith to him — a 
pledge she would amply redeem. Will Caryll could not 
quite understand her enthusiasm, nor had he the least idea 
of the solemn vow her heart registered as her lips pro- 
nounced the words, but he fully sympathized with the out- 
ward tokens of her affection which ministered to his love 
of self. So he placed his hand firmly over hers, and looked 
her full in the eyes. 

“ I believe you do love me, Eve. Then kneel down 
here and swear, by your mother’s memory, and all your 
hopes of meeting her again, that you will be faithful to me, 
and help me all your life long.” 

“ Oh ! that is easy.” cried the girl, as she sank upon her 
knees and clasped her hands together. “ I swear it so- 
lemnly, by all my hopes of salvation.” 

He knew that she was his now — his to the very end. 
Evelyn Rayne was not the soit of girl to swear an oath and 
break it. His shallow nature could admire and lean upon 
hers, even while he had no desire to emulate its virtues. 

“ I think we had better go home now,” he said, as he 
raised her and drew her arm within his own. “ I seem to 
have learnt more about you, Eve, during these last few 
days, than I ever did in my life before. I feel I can depend 
upon you. I am sure that you will never desert me, nor 
turn against me, nor betray me, whatever I may do.” 

“ I am glad of that,” she answered simply. “ It is just 
what I should wish you to feel.” 

They had a peaceful evening after that, and apparently 
a happy one, but neither of them was at ease. Will 
brooded over his coming interview with his uncle (for, of 
course, he had never carried out his bragging determination 
to visit him with an explanation), and Eve pondered fear- 
fully over her visit to the tailor. She had promised to go, 
and she should fulfil her promise, but she had no idea of 
what she should say when she got there. She was up 
early, as usual, the following morning to see Will off to his 
uncle’s office, but the cousins had no opportunity for a 
private conference. All he could say, as Eve followed him 
into the passage, under pretence of brushing the dust off 


MOUNT EDEN. 


35 


his coat, was, “ Don’t forget Todson, whatever you do ! ” 
and she, looking up into the lad’s perturbed countenance, 
answered, “ No, darling, no.” 

She found great difficulty, however, in leaving the house 
without informing Miss Rayne of her destination. She 
was usually so frank and Open in all her actions (having 
nothing to conceal), that she lingered about for some 
time, wondering what valid excuse she could make 
for going out. Luckily, however, for her enterprise, Miss 
Rayne required some knitting yarn from a particular shop 
in Liverpool, and told Evelyn, if she had nothing better to 
do, that she might go and fetch it. By which means she 
found herself, before the clock had struck twelve, standing 
on the threshold of the tailor’s shop, and inquiring, in a 
very shaky voice, if she could speak to Mr. Todson. An 
apprentice ushered her into a back room, where a pursy 
little man, with a stout figure and a bland countenance, 
stood smiling and rubbing his hands together. 

“ And what can we do for you to-day, Miss ? ” he com- 
menced deferentially ; “ ladies’ ulsters — walking suits — 
riding-habits — ” 

Poor Eve, attired in a brown holland dress, that had 
been nearly washed white, with a little black cape ^of the 
fashion of five years before, and a straw hat of no fashion 
at all, looked a very unlikely customer for any of the articles 
he mentioned, unless, indeed, it were for an ulster to cover 
all her other deficiencies. 

“ No, thank you. I have not come to give an order,” 
she replied, blushing and stammering. “ I wish to speak 
to you, Mr. Todson, about a bill — Mr. William Caryll’s 
bill — that you have told him you will send in to his uncle, 
Mr. Roger Caryll, of Water Street.” 

The tailor’s face changed immediately. From a round, 
rosy, smiling countenance, it seemed to become elongated, 
sallow, and sour. 

“ Oh, yes, indeed,” he answered, in a dry, acrid voice, 
“ Mr. William Caryll has been on our books for a long time 
— and a very long time — it is quite essential we should 
take some steps to recover our money. It is altogether 
against our rules to give credit. We have been indulgent 
to Mr. William Caryll, hitherto, on account of his youth, 
but there is a limit, even to our patience. But perhaps 
you have come to pay the account, Miss ? ” 


36 


MOUNT EDEN 


“ Oh, no. I wish I had/’ said Eve, deeply blushing ; 
“ but I am sure you will get the money if you will be so 
good as to wait a little longer. I am Mr. William Caryll’s 
cousin, and I know all about my uncle’s intentions respect- 
ing him. Will you let me tell you something about them ? 
I think you will see the matter in a different light when 
you have heard what I have to say.” 

Her voice was so sweet and earnest, and she looked so 
interesting as she stood there, pleading her cousin’s cause, 
that Mr. Todson’s sour face relaxed a little and, though 
he still retained an expression of Spartan-like firmness, he 
fetched a chair, and, begging her to be seated, prepared to 
listen to her story. 


CHAPTER V. 

THE BILL IS PAID. 

With some confusion and a great many blushes, Eve 
entered in details, telling the tailor that Will Caryll was his 
uncle’s nearest relation, and that it was almost certain that 
he would inherit his property, and be able to pay off fifty 
such bills with half-a-day’s income. But that unlucky 
word almost , like the proverbial slip ’twixt the cup and the 
lip, marred her eloquence, and as she falteringly proceeded, 
her heart sunk to see the look of incredulity that settled 
down on Mr. Todson’s countenance, and the sarcastic 
smile that curled about the corners of his mouth. 

“ I wouldn’t think of doubting your word, Miss,” he said, 
as Evelyn concluded her statement ; “ but you’ll pardon me 
for saying I’ve heard all this before. Mr. William Caryll’s 
future prospects may be very good — I’ve no doubt they 
are, and I’m glad of it — but they have nothing whatever 
to do with his present liabilities. If he’s going to be so 
rich, why don’t he ask the old gentleman to pay his bills ? ” 

“ Oh, Uncle Roger wouldn’t do that, I’m afraid, Mr. 
Todson, for he is very strict and particular, and my cousin 
would not dare tell him he was in debt, but if you would 
wait a little longer — ” 

“ I can’t wait any longer — I’m sorry, Miss, but I can’t 
afford to do it. Fifty pounds is a large sum, and-O’ 


MOUNT EDEN. 


37 


“ Fifty pounds /” interrupted Eve, with a look of horror ; 
“ you don’t mean to say that Will owes you fifty pounds ? ” 

<( Fifty pounds, eleven shillings and threepence,” 
repeated Mr. Todson solemnly. “The account has been 
running on now for over two years, and Mr. William Caryll 
knew ours to be a ready-money establishment when he 
began to deal here. I’ve let him off again and again, 
Miss. He promised me immediate payment twelve months 
ago. It’s nonsense of him, as of anybody — begging your 
pardon, Miss — asking me to wait for money that mayn’t 
come to him for the next twenty years, unless he can raise 
something on it now. Is it fair or just, Miss ? I put it to 
you as a lady ! ” 

“ No,” replied Evelyn sadly. “ It is neither fair nor 
just. But I suppose at the time he really hoped he should 
get the money.” 

“ Hoping won’t pay me,” observed Mr. Todson, “ and 
I see no way of being righted except laying the case before 
Mr. Caryll, senior. He is a just and upright gentleman 
(as I hear), and won’t see a tradesman defrauded of his 
due.” 

“ But you will ruin Will — I mean my cousin — if you do 
that, Mr. Todson ; uncle will be so very angry. Perhaps 
he will turn him straight out of the office, and then there 
will be no chance of your getting your money at all.” 

This contingency seemed to have some influence on the 
tailor. He screwed up his mouth, put his head on one 
side, like a crow looking at a bone, and considered for a 
moment in silence. 

“ If you will only wait a week longer,” continued Eve, 
taking advantage of the situation, “ I will try and see what 
can be done. Give him one more week, Mr. Todson, and 
then, if he cannot pay you, you must do what you think 
right.” 

“ Very well, Miss,” replied the tailor ; “for your sake I 
will make one more concession. My letter to Mr. Caryll, 
senior, shall be kept back for a week^and if I don’t hear 
from you in that time, it will be sent in as first intended.” 

“ Thank you — thank you for your kindness, Mr. Todson, 
and I hope things will be comfortably settled in the course 
of a few days,” said Eve, as she left the shop. 

But the hope was a very faint one, and the .arther she 
left Todson’s behind her, the fainter it seemed to become. 


3$ 


MOUNT EDEN 


Neither she nor Will had any money beyond a few shil- 
lings, and Miss Rayne would be as little likely to help in 
such a cause as Mr. Caryll himself. 

No ; they must not even tell Miss Rayne of what had 
occurred. She had taken in Will Caryll as a boarder 
because her straightened circumstances would not permit 
her to refuse such an offer, but she heartily disliked the lad, 
had done so from the beginning, and lost no opportunity 
of letting him see it. So Eve went home with a heart full 
of despair. 

As soon as ever Will returned in the evening, he ran 
upstairs to inquire what success she had had with the 
tailor. Eve’s room was at the very top of the house. It 
was not much more than an attic, with the drap-door 
(before alluded to) in the ceiling that led out upon the roof, 
but the girl was neat and tasteful, and had made the little 
apartment look like herself. On the cheaply-papered walls 
hung the photographs of her few friends, in frames of her 
own manufacture, Will CarylPs holding the place of honor 
as might be well expected. Her books and workbasket — 
her flowers, and a pet canary singing in a cage — all con- 
tributed to mark the little chamber as her own, and no 
one entered it but those whom she invited there. 

“ What news, Eve ? ” exclaimed Will, as she turned to 
greet him. “ What did old Todson say? ” 

“ Not very good news, dear Will,” she answered cheer- 
fully, “ but better perhaps than we had a right to ex- 
pect.” 

She then related exactly what had taken place between 
her and the tailor. Her story was followed by an ominous 
silence. 

“ Don’t fret, dear,” she said, with an attempt at comfort. 
“ Hope for the best. We have a whole week, you see, to 
think it over in. Surely we can do something in that 
time.” 

“ Hope for the best ! ” he repeated bitterly ; “ what 

best is there to hope for ? You’ve bungled the business, 
Eve ; I was afraid you would. You didn’t lay it on thick 
enough, or the old brute would have been more amen- 
able.” 

“ Indeed, Will, I said all I could. I almost knelt to 
him. But he said he must have his money, and all the 
respite I could get was a week.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


39 


“ What’s the good of a week? ” continued her cousin. 
“ Where’s the money to come from at the end of a week ? ” 
He might just as well have made it this afternoon. I have 
no luck. Everything is against me. I wish that 1 was 
dead and buried.” 

And then, to Eve’s infinite dismay, he laid his head down 
upon the bed, and burst into tears. She had never seen 
a man cry before. In her innocence, she thought they 
never did cry — not even when they were young and tender 
— and the sight filled her with terror lest Will should be 
going out of his mind. 

“ Oh, Will, Will ! don’t do that. You break my heart. 
What is the matter with you ? ” 

“ I cannot bear it,” he cried passionately; “it is too 
much for any fellow to bear. I will kill myself. I will 
cut my throat, or take poison. It would be a thousand 
times better than living like this.” 

“But why should you say so, Will? Is there any fresh 
trouble? Was uncle very angry with you? ” 

“ Angry ! I shouldn’t mind his anger. I’m used to it. 
He’s always as cross as two sticks. But he insulted me. 
He said I was responsible for his beastly postage stamps, 
and he should deduct their value from my salary. I shall 
receive nothing next Saturday, nor for several weeks to 
come. They are going to cheat me out of my pay. And 
how am I to live ? How am I to get my dinner, I should 
like to know ? It is disgraceful. They ought to be 
ashamed of themselves.” 

And he relapsed into weak, childish tears, for which the 
prospect of his lost dinners were mostly responsible. 

“ Nevermind, dearest,” whispered the soothing, woman- 
ly voice, “ I have a few shillings, you know, that I have 
earned for my Christmas cards, and I am owed several 
more. You shall not go without your dinners, Will. I 
will see to that. And for the rest, you must try to be 
patient and economical till this horrid business is settled.” 

“ But there’s Todson’s bill — you don’t think of that. If 
it reaches uncle’s ears, he’ll give me the sack, as sure as 
a gun.” Evelyn sighed heavily. 

“ I tried so hard to persuade .dm not to send it into 
uncle at all,” she said, “ but he was obdurate. A week 
was all the grace I could get out of him. And it is such 
an awful sum, Will — fifty pounds, eleven shillings and 


40 


MOUNT EDEN. 


threepence. I don’t think everything Aunt Maria 
possesses would sell for as much.” 

“ What’s the good of bothering over pounds, shillings and 
pence ? ” grumbled Will impatiently. “ I couldn’t pay it 
if it were half the sum. But what we’ve got to do is to 
prevent its reaching Uncle Caryll’s ears. You are sure he 
said a week. Eve ? ” 

“•Yes, quite sure. He repeated it several times. He 
would wait one week longer, and if he did not hear from us 
by that time, he should send the bill straight to Water 
Street.” 

“ I will kill myself before the end of it ! ” cried Will. 
“ Don’t you be surprised, Eve, if you miss me. Some 
night I shall not turn up as usual, and the next day you 
will hear that my body has been found floating in the canal. 
And then you can get another lover as soon as you like, 
and walk out with him to the cemetery on Sunday even- 
ings instead of with me, and put a rose on my grave as 
you did last night on your mother’s.” 

Of course she wept, womanlike, over the terrible picture 
the weak fool beside her had conjured up, and extracted 
many a promise from him to do nothing rash, but trust to 
her love to help him out of the difficulty. Still, the days 
wore away very gloomily. Evelyn ransacked her brain to 
think what she could do to help her cousin, but all her 
endeavors only resulted in the collection of a few shillings, 
which she tearfully made him accept. At last a grand 
thought struck her. When first it occurred, she put it 
from her as though it had been sacrilege, but it came back 
again and again, until she felt compelled to listen to the 
inward voice that suggested it. Evelyn had one posses- 
sion of value — a dressing-case, containing her dead mother’s 
jewellery. She hardly knew what it contained, still less of 
what intrinsic worth the ornaments might be. She had been 
allowed, on one or two occasions, to look at the contents 
of the dressing-case, but Miss Rayne always kept it in her 
own room. The jewels were Evelyn’s, certainly, but they 
were far too valuable (so Miss Rayne said) to be entrusted 
to her care yet, and she should not have them until she 
was married. So Eve had come to regard these ornaments 
as sacred things — as part of her dead mother, indeed— and 
the idea of selling them seemed horrible to her. And yet, 
what w^s she to do ? Her dear mother ha4 l^ft them to 


MOUNT EDEN 


4i 


her for her pleasure, not her pain, and would not she have 
parted with them soon enough if her husband had been in 
the same predicament as poor Will. Evelyn felt sure she 
would. It made her heart sore to think of the trinkets she 
had regarded as too good for her own use passing into the 
hands of strangers ; but i£ it were for Will, she would not 
hesitate for a moment. So, whilst Miss Rayne was busied 
in the kitchen on the following morning, Eve lifted down 
the dressing-case (of which she always kept the key) from 
the top of the wardrobe, and carried it carefully into her 
own room. There she set it on the bed and unlocked it, 
and revealed the contents. It was a cumbersome box — 
one of the old-fashioned rosewood cases — filled with cut- 
glass scent bottles, and pomatum pots with plated tops 
such as used to be much in request as wedding presents 
amongst the middle classes. This one was lined with 
dark-blue velvet, and had the scent of attar of roses and 
pastilles clinging to it as though it were a shrine. Evelyn 
lifted the tray reverentially, and took out the bracelets 
that lay underneath. They were very commonplace, and 
of no marketable value, but in her eyes they represented a 
little fortune. There was one formed of gold links like a 
cable chain, with a clasp in the shape of a heart, set with 
dark-glowing carbuncles ; and another like a snake, with 
turquoises in its head, and tiny ruby eyes, and several 
others of gold, and silver, and enamel. 

Then the rings in the drawer beneath — the wedding ring 
with which she had always hoped to be married some day 
herself, although people told her it would be unlucky, and 
the engraved guard her poor mother had worn above it. 
And a beautiful half-hoop of emeralds, and a little finger- 
ring with a single diamond in it, and two mourning rings 
set with pearls. Beside these, there were, four or five 
brooches and some earrings, and a gentleman’s breast-pin 
of blue enamel, which she supposed had belonged to her 
father. They looked very grand when they were all laid 
out on the bed, and Eve thought they must be worth quite 
fifty pounds. She felt very much like crying when she 
thought of selling them. A great lump rose in her throat 
as she remembered that, once gone, they could never be 
got back again, and that all her life she would have to 
remain without her dear mother’s rings, and brooches, 
and bracelets, which she had so looked forward to wearing. 


42 


MOUNT EDEN 


But it was for Will — to ease dear Will’s heart and set his 
mind at rest — and to accomplish that Eve would have 
gone through a still greater sacrifice. So she put back the 
wedding ring, and a scent bottle and thimble, with one or 
two trifles of the least value into the dressing-case, and 
locked them up again, and the rest of the trinkets she 
placed in her own drawer. She was not going to tell her 
Aunt Maria a word about the matter ; not, at least, until 
the good she contemplated had been accomplished, for, 
after all, they were her own trinkets, and she had a right 
to do with them as she chose. So she put the dressing- 
case on the top of Miss Rayne’s wardrobe again, where it 
was likely to remain undisturbed for any length of time. 
And then she returned, like a miser, to gloat over the 
treasures she had amassed in her own room. The greatest 
difficulty appeared to be how to dispose of them. The 
easiest way would have been to deliver them over to Will, 
but Eve had grave doubts whether her cousin was to be 
entirely trusted with articles of value; besides, she wanted 
to prepare a great surprise for him. If it was imperative 
that she should part with the most cherished treasures she 
possessed, she wanted to be able to go and put the money 
they realized into Will’s lap, and see the look of surprise, 
and pleasure, and gratitude with which he thanked her for 
the sacrifice she had made. She knew of a shop where she 
had often read in passing that old gold, and silver, and 
jewellery was bought or exchanged, and the first time she 
could do so, without suspicion, she crept out to the place 
and laid her little packet timidly upon the counter. She 
had dreamed grand dreams of the sum of money it would 
bring her. One hundred — even two hundred pounds, 
perhaps (for the worth of her mother’s legacy was priceless 
in her eyes), and then, when she had paid Mr. Todson’s 
bill, how proud she would be to make dear Will a hand- 
some present wherewith to tide over his difficulties. 

But her hopes were soon dissipated. A half-grown 
youth tossed over the contents of the packet in a superci- 
lious manner before he carried them to his employer 
(strange that those who live by sale and barter should 
always despise and treat with contumely such ‘unfortunates 
as present anything to sell), who, having examined them 
much in the same spirit, advanced to where poor Evelyn 
stood, burning with shame and anxiety. 


MOUNf EDEN. 


43 


*' You wish to sell these trifles, Miss ? ” 

“ Yes, if you will buy them,” replied Eve. 

“Well, they ain’t of much value, you know,” said the 
man, turning them over, with a shake of the head, and the 
sotto voce remark, “ pal — try, pal — try ! ” 

“ Some of them are valuable, surely ? The rings, for 
instance.” 

“ Ah, well, the rings are not so bad. Well,” tossing 
them all together in a heap, “ what shall we say for the 
lot ? Six pounds ? ” 

Evelyn’s face fell. 

“ Six pounds ! Oh, no ! Why, I have often heard my 
aunt say the emerald ring cost twenty-five. It was my 
uncle’s wedding present to my mother.” 

“ Perhaps — a long time ago. But the fashion’s past, 
you see. We pay for fashion. No one would buy that 
ring now. It’s second-hand.” 

“ I will take them back, then,” said Evelyn, with her 
spirits down at zero, but with a certain dignity in her 
manner. 

“ Stop a little, Miss ; don’t be in such a hurry,” replied 
the pawnbroker, who did not wish to lose the chance 
of making a profitable bargain ; “ if you really want to 
part with the trinkets, I don’t mind stretching a point, 
and giving you ten pounds for them, though I’m bound to 
be a loser by the transaction.” 

But Evelyn’s spirit was roused by that time. She was 
a girl with any amount of spirit, though she had a humble 
opinion of her own merits, and a heart that succumbed 
to affection like a reed shaken by the wind. She saw the 
pawnbroker was taking advantage of her, and she refused* 
to be cheated. 

“No,” she replied firmly, laying her hand upon the 
packet, “ I will not part with them for ten pounds. I am 
sorry you cannot give me more, but it would be of no use 
to me.” 

“ Come, now, Miss, I don’t like to see you disappointed, 
so I’ll make it fifteen, but that’s the outside I can go. 
Take it or leave it ; but it’s my last word.” 

Evelyn hesitated. Fifteen pounds was a good lump of 
money. If it would not defray Mr. Todson’s bill, it might 
at least induce him to wait a little longer for the rest. And 
if anything terrible happened to Will, — like being turned 


44 


MOUNT EDEN. 


out of the office, — he would be sorely in need of money to 
help him to live till he procured another situation. It was 
always a comfort to feel one had some money to fall back 
upon, and — yes, she had decided. She would accept the 
pawnbroker’s offer. 

“ Very well,” she said, in a trembling voice, u I will take 
fifteen pounds, though I am sure they are worth a great 
deal more.” 

“ I don’t know where you’d get it, then,” replied the man 
somewhat insolently, as he swept the bracelets, rings, and 
brooches carelessly into a drawer, and counted out fifteen 
sovereigns into Evelyn’s hand. 

She felt very low-spirited as she left the shop, and 
remembered that she had parted with all the reminiscences 
that she possessed of her poor mother forever ; but she 
had done what she believed to be right, and she was not 
going to cry over it. Rather, she looked forward to the 
moment when she should lay her little offering at her 
cousin’s feet, and feel repaid for everything by his love and 
gratitude. When she reached home again, she felt really 
glad she had had the courage to do as she had done, for no 
one seemed to sympathize with Will’s troubles but herself. 
Miss Rayne said she had no patience with him — that it 
served him right to have his salary stopped, and she 
hoped it would teach him to be more careful for the future. 
Mr. Gamble, too, seemed to keep up the feud in Miss 
Rayne’s breast against the lad, for he never spoke to him 
out of office hours, nor mentioned his name without some 
indication of distaste. He was tabooed by all but Eve, 
who did her utmost to make up to him for the coolness of 
the others. It was the last day but one of the prescribed 
week, and nothing had been done towards paying Mr. 
Todson’s bill. Eve crept up to her cousin’s side that even- 
ing in silent sympathy. She had the fifteen pounds in her 
pocket, but she would not venture to speak of them until 
all other hope seemed over. 

“ To-morrow will be Wednesday, Will,” she whispered ; 
“ what will you do ? ” 

Young Caryll was leaning over the table, deep in the 
perusal of a newspaper. At her question he looked up. 

“ About old Todson’s bill, do you mean ? Don’t worry 
yourself. It is paid." 

Eve almost screamed in surprise. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


45 

“ Paid ! Are you in earnest, Will ? Who paid it ? 
How did it happen ? Did uncle give you the money ? ” 

“Don’t talk so loud. I don’t want the whole house to 
hear my private affairs. Uncle ! Not exactly. As if it 
is likely he would pay it. No, indeed, I paid it myself.” 

“ But, Will, fifty pounds ! ” gasped Evelyn ; “ where did 
you get the money ? ” 

He grew unaccountably red, and bent his head again 
over the paper. But she could see the red still, which 
mounted to his very forehead, and flushed the white part- 
ing of his fair hair. 

“ Where other fellows get money when they want it, 
Eve,” he mumbled indistinctly. “ From the money- 
lenders ! Fellows with expectations are always able to 
raise a few pounds. I was a fool not to think of it before.” 

To know that the bill was settled, and the immediate 
danger over, was a great relief, and yet Evelyn did not 
like the manner of her cousin’s speech. It was too jerky 
and unnatural. It seemed as if something had been left 
out which he was afraid to say. It was not like himself. 
For a moment she wondered if he had been drinking. 

“ But won’t you have to pay the money back again ? ” 
she demanded gravely. 

“ Hang it all, Eve,” he said irritably, “ what a kill-joy 
you are. Yes, of course I shall, in about a hundred years 
hence, when uncle’s dead, and I reign in his stead ; but not 
till then, at all events. Anyway, Todson’s paid, which is 
all you need concern yourself about. And if you don’t 
believe me, there’s the old brute’s receipt.” 

And handing her the tailor’s bill, he let her see the stamp 
and signature affixed to it. 

Evelyn heaved a sigh, half of relief and half of fear. She 
was most thankful the immediate danger was over, but she 
dreaded a worse one in the future. Will was so thought- 
less ! He never seemed to live beyond the present. What 
if these money-lenders should press him for payment still 
more hardly than Mr. Todson had done ? As she handed 
him back the receipt in silence, he seemed to guess at her 
suspicions. 

“ What are you so grave about, Eve ? ” he asked ; “ you 
don’t look pleased even now. I thought you would be as 
glad as myself.” 

“ So I am, Will — very glad j but I hope it is all right. 


4 6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


It seems so strange to be able to raise such a large sum of 
money so easily. Are you sure the men will wait till you 
can pay them ? ” 

“ They must , my dear. I’m not of age,” he said airily ; 
but though he laughed and professed to be at his ease, she 
saw that his gaiety was forced, and could not join in it as 
she would otherwise have done ; and as soon as she con- 
veniently could, she stole away to her own room. 

There, as she was emptying the pockets of her brown 
holland dress, preparatory to going to bed, she came upon 
the little packet of sovereigns which she had placed there 
in readiness to put into Will’s hand. She had almost for- 
gotten them till then. In her astonishment at hearing that 
her cousin had no need of money, she had lost sight of the 
sacrifice she had made to procure him some. And it had 
been all in vain. She had sold her dead mother’s trinkets 
for a paltry sum of fiftten sovereigns, whilst Will had 
found no difficulty in raising fifty pounds. As Evelyn 
thought of it, and that she had done that which she never 
could recall, her fortitude gave way, and she burst into 
tears. 


CHAPTER VI. 

IN HIDING. 

Nothing of consequence occurred during the next few 
days, except that Will Caryll took to staying out late at 
night — a practice to which he had never been addicted 
since he had lived in Miss Rayne’s house. Aunt Maria 
grumbled considerably at the innovation. She considered 
him far too young to be trusted with a latch-key, neither did 
she approve of Eve sitting up to let her cousin in. In vain 
did the girl represent that Will, at twenty, was of an age to 
require more amusement than was to be found in their 
dull little parlor, and that it was only natural that he 
should sometimes like io go to the theatre, or join a smoking* 
concert or a bachelor’s party. Miss Rayne considered that 
a chat with his cousin, or a game of draughts with herself, 
ought to be sufficient recreation for any properly-con- 
stituted young man, and threatened more than once to bar 


MOUNT EDEN. 


47 


and bolt the front door, and put out the lights, and leave 
Will Caryll to sleep on the steps, if he felt so inclined. 
But somehow it always ended in Eve letting in the delin- 
quent, and receiving him, like the prodigal son in the 
Scriptures, with the best welcome at her command. She 
fretted a little herself over his newly-developed love of 
roving and late hours, yet she never told him so, but was 
always ready with a smile of welcome to quietly unfasten 
the door, so that Aunt Maria should not notice the time of 
his return, and to serve him with such scraps of supper as 
she had been able to put aside for him. Once or twice, 
however, to her horror and consternation, Will did not 
seem quite himself on returning home. He always knew 
who she was, but his speech was thick and altered, and he 
stumbled about the passage, and insisted upon making a 
noise, notwithstanding all her entreaties to him to be silent. 
At such times his words and manners would be more free 
than usual, and he would shock her modesty instead of 
exciting her compassion. Eve would hurry over her duties 
as quickly as possible then, and run away to her own room 
to weep in secret over the defalcations of her hero. Yet, 
with it all, she did not love him less. What true woman 
ever loved a man less for the sins that are not sinned 
against herself ? There is such a strong tide of maternal 
feeling welling up in every female breast, and ready to cast 
a cloak of protection over the creature that has proved 
himself to be weaker than herself. The very ease with 
which their husbands and lovers sin, seems to be an extra 
incentive for compassion from the women who love them. 
They pity them so much for their frailty. They fancy they 
must pity themselves so much that they need all the 
encouragement they can give them to heal their wounded 
vanity. It is only men who have named women “ the weaker 
sex.” In love and hate they are incomparably the stronger 
vessels of the two. 

So Evelyn Rayne, smarting in sympathy with Will 
Caryll’s troubles, forgot to blame him for the injudicious 
and selfish means by which he sought to allay them. 

But one evening — it was the following Saturday — she 
did not believe he intended to come home at all. Miss 
Rayne sat nodding in her chair till twelve o’clock, and 
then ordered her niece to lock up the house and follow her 
to bed, threatening meanwhile to let Mr. Caryll know the 


A 8 


MOUNT EDEN. 


first thing on Monday morning how shamefully his nephew 
was behaving. Eve prepared to obey. She knew that it 
was useless to remonstrate ; besides, her aunt had right on 
her side. It was thoughtless and cruel of Will to keep 
them up like this, night after night, when he knew how 
much they had to do during the day. So she fastened the 
house-bolts, and put up the chain, and extinguished the gas, 
and went quickly up to her own room. Not that she had 
any intention of going to bed. As soon as she had 
undressed, she put on her wrapper, and blew out the 
candle, and, opening her casement window, sat down in 
the moonlight to watch and wait till she should hear the 
familiar sound of Will’s knuckles rapping against the hall 
door. But the hours dragged on till one and two o’clock 
had sounded from a neighboring steeple, and still he did 
not come. 

Eve was very weary. She had worked hard all day — for 
much of the housekeeping and house cleaning fell to her 
share — and at last she could keep awake no longer. Little 
by little her aching eyelids closed, and her head drooped 
upon her breast, and she fell fast asleep. By-and-bye — 
perhaps an hour afterwards — she waked suddenly and com- 
pletely, as people are apt to wake who have fallen asleep 
watching. She fancied she had heard a sound. It must 
have been Will at the front door. 

Eve started to her feet. Her first fear was that it might 
have been repeated several times, and that her aunt had 
heard it too. But as she became fully conscious, she was 
suddenly made aware that she was not alone. Before her, 
in the moonlight, stood a tall figure. Eve sprang to her 
feet with an exclamation of alarm. The figure grasped her 
by the arm. It was her Cousin Will. 

“ Hush ! ” he said, in a warning whisper. “ Hush, Eve, 
for God’s sake, or I am lost ! ” 

Then Eve’s sense and courage came to her assistance. 
She took in the situation at a glance. Something terrible 
had happened that required secrecy. She could not 
imagine what it was, but discovery meant harm to Will, so 
her first impulse led her to lock her bedroom door. Then 
she drew him to the farthest end of the room, and whis- 
pered, — 

“ What is it ? Tell me quickly. How did you come 
here?” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


49 


He turned and pointed to the trap-door in the ceiling, 
which she now perceived, for the first time, to be open. 

“ Through there? By the roof? ” 

He nodded in reply. 

“ But why ? What is the matter ? ” 

“ I have been there all the afternoon, Eve. I came in 
whilst you were at dinner, and crept up to your room. I 
am hiding. Hasn’t Gamble told you ? The officers are 
after me.” 

“ What officers ? ” 

“ The officers of justice. Oh, Eve, I have a dreadful 
story to tell you ; but it was not my fault — I assure you it 
wasn’t.” 

Eve was shivering now, as if with cold. 

“Tell me everything,” she whispered; “ I must hear it.” 

She made him sit close beside her on the bed as she 
spoke, and placed her ear to his mouth. 

“ Go on,” she said slowly ; “ what have you done ? ” 

“ I wouldn’t tell you,” he commenced, half whimpering ; 
“ I would have kept it from you before all the world, only 
you are the only person who can save me, Eve.” 

“ Go on,” she repeated ; “ don’t keep me in suspense. 
Go on.” 

“ Well, you know about old Todson’s bill ? I told you 
I had borrowed the money. So I did, and I fully intended 
to pay it back some day, only I didn’t get it from the 
money-lenders.” 

“ Who from, then ? ” said Evelyn, in a strained voice. 

“ Well, I — I — borrowed it from the firm. Of course I 
didn’t ask them, because it would have been no good; but 
last week I was sent into uncle’s office, and his cheque- 
book was on the desk, and so — and so — ” 

“ You forged his name!" cried Evelyn, in a tone of 
incredulous horror. 

“ Well, you can hardly call it ‘forging,’ when the money 
is to be all mine,” said Will Caryll weakly ; “anyway, I 
didn’t see the excessive sin of drawing a few weeks’ salary 
in advance, and so I passed the cheque into the bank, and 
it would have been all right if it hadn’t been for the con- 
founded interference of old Gamble.” 

“ Has he found it out? ” cried Evelyn. 

“ Every body has found it out. The whole firm know it 
by this time. Old Gamble’s the cashier, you know, and he 


50 


MOUNT EDEN. 


has a brother in the bank. What they saw about me to 
raise their suspicions I can’t imagine, but this morning his 
brother sent for him, and they called in the passed cheques 
and picked out mine at once— at least so Sam Godwin, 
who’s in the accountant’s office, told me ; and then Gamble 
came back, and had a long confab with Uncle Roger, and 
they sent out for a policeman. I didn’t wait to hear any 
more. I ran into the backyard and climbed over the wall, 
and came home as fast as I could, and got out on the roof, 
and have stayed there ever since, and precious hot I have 
been, and hungry too, I can tell you. But has any one 
been after me yet, Eve? Have the police made inquiries 
here ? Does Miss Rayne know anything about it ? ” 

“ No, no ! no one has been — no one has said anything,” 
she answered, in a low voice. 

“ Then, perhaps, uncle is not going to prosecute me ! 
Perhaps he will refuse on account of the family name, and 
of my being his heir ; eh, Eve ? ” 

But Eve made no reply. 

“ Why don’t you speak to me ? ” continued Will impa- 
tiently. “ I don’t think much of your affection if you can’t 
give a fellow a little comfort in his trouble.” 

But she could not speak. She was weeping as if her 
heart would break. All the misery and the danger of the 
crime of which her cousin had been guilty impressed itself 
so forcibly upon her mind, that in imagination she already 
saw him working out his sentence for felony in a convict’s 
prison, and stamped for evermore with the indelible seal 
of shame ; and then the awful feeling of distaste towards 
him which it gave her — he, whom a few short hours ago she 
had been ready to regard as a model of all that was good 
and lovable. She had felt herself edging away from his 
side as he made his repulsive confession, until she remem- 
bered that he had said she was his only friend, and love 
and pity triumphed over her first disgust. But oh ! the 
sin and the shame of it ! She buried her face in the bed- 
pillow, and wept convulsively. 

“ Oh, Will ! ” she sobbed, “ how could you do it — how 
could you do it ? ” 

“ Hush ! don’t make such a row,” he exclaimed in alarm ; 
“ if you rouse the others, Eve, as sure as I am a man I’ll 
throw myself from this window and smash to pieces before 
your eyes. It’s cruel of you to make me run such a risk as 
this.” 


MOUNT EDEN 


5i 


Eve stifled her weeping by a powerful effort at once. 

“ I won’t cry any more, Will, indeed I won’t. But tell 
me, what do you intend to do? *' 

“ I don’t know. I’ve come to you to tell me. One 
thing’s certain, I must keep in hiding till the officers are 
tired of looking for me, and then I must get away some- 
where. Is the punishment very hard for — for writing 
another person’s name, Eve?” 

“ It’s transportation,” she whispered, with white lips. 

Will Caryll turned deadly pale. 

“ But you’ll help me — won’t you, Eve ? ” he said trem- 
blingly. “ You swore by your mother’s grave that you 
would.” 

“ I have not forgotten it, Will ; but you must give me 
time to think. Do you believe the roof is safe ? If the 
house should be searched, 1 should think the trap-door 
would be the first place they would suspect.” 

“ Then what am I to do ? ” 

“ Lie down on the bed and go to sleep, and leave me to 
puzzle it out, Will. You will be quite safe, for I shall 
watch by your side and wake you before the others are 
stirring. And you may not have a bed to-morrow-night, 
poo'r darling^there is no saying what may happen to pre- 
vent it — so take your rest whilst you can.” 

She made him take off his boots, and lie down in his 
clothes, and covered him as tenderly as though he had 
been an infant. 

“ Oh, Eve ! I don’t know what I should do without you,” 
he whimpered, as she kissed the tears off his face, and bid 
God bless and keep him. And in a few minutes he had 
sunk off to sleep, as if nothing had happened to disturb 
his slumbers ; whilst Eve sat by the open window, gazing 
up into the starry sky, with a heart full of dread and 
despair. What was to become of him ? That was the sole 
question that filled her mind, and which she found it impos- 
sible to answer. But here the budding powers of her brain 
made themselves apparent. She reviewed her position, 
and collected her forces, and arranged her tactics as 
methodically as a general about to do battle with the foe. 
And what a foe it was she found herself arrayed against — • 
the exposure, which must ruin her cousin’s career for ever 
in this world, without hope or chance of remedy. As Eve 
thought of the crime he had committed, and the weakness 


52 


MOUNT EDEN. 


of which he had been guilty, she shuddered visibly, and felt 
as if she never wished to look on him again ; but the next 
moment the grand womanly compassion with which her 
breast was overflowing welled to the surface, and she longed 
to take him in her arms like a little infant, and run far 
away with him to a place of safety. But what she had to 
do in this extremity was to act, and not to dream. 

When six o’clock struck on that Sunday morning, and the 
little world of Liverpool began to stir, she went up to the 
bed, and kissed the fair, flushed face of William Caryll into 
consciousness. 

“ Will,” she whispered, as he sprung up into a sitting 
posture, and stared about him, “ it is morning — you will 
have to go into hiding again. But listen to me, dear. I 
have been thinking all night what is best to be done, and 
I have decided to go and speak to Uncle Caryll.” 

“ You won’t tell him I am here ? ” he cried, clutching her 
arm. 

“No, no ! How can you imagine such a thing. Of 
course I must behave as if I had heard nothing. But I 
will say you have not been home all night, and ask if he 
knows the reason. Then he will tell me the story, and I 
shall learn exactly what he means to do. Until we know 
this, Will, I don’t see how we can act for the best. Perhaps 
Sam Godwin only said it to frighten you, and uncle doesn’t 
intend to prosecute after all.” 

A look of relief came into Will’s face. 

“ I shouldn’t wonder. I was in such a funk I hardly 
understood what he said; What a clever girl you are, Eve, 
to think of it. But won’t you be afraid to encounter Uncle 
Roger? He’s an awful old bear.” 

She sighed. 

“Yes, I am afraid — that is, a little — but if it is neces- 
sary, Will, it must be done. And now, dear, you must go 
back to the roof. Aunt Maria is generally stirring about 
seven, and she might come up here. But put a wet towel 
inside your hat, Will, to keep the sun off your head, and 
take a blanket to lie on. Perhaps you will be able to sleep 
on the leads, and no one can see you from the street 
because of the parapet. And I will bring you up what I 
can save from breakfast without Aunt Maria seeing me.” 

“Will she let you go to see Uncle Caryll, Eve? He 
lives at 24 Birkenhead Square.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


53 


“ Of course I shall say nothing to her about it ; but I 
don’t think there will be any difficulty. She always lets 
me go to church by myself if I wish it, apd I can pretend 
to be going with Louisa Marsh.” 

She sighed again heavily. 

“ Oh, Will ! how I wish there was no need of pretence. 
It does cut my heart so.” 

“ But there is, you see — great need — so it’s no use sigh- 
ing over it,” said Will, as he prepared to mount on a chair 
and climb through the trap-door ; v and mind you bring 
me some breakfast, Eve, for I’m positively starving.” 

“ I will — you know I will. I would go without any my- 
self sooner than you should fast any longer. But lie close 
and keep quiet, Will, whatever you do.” 

She fastened the inner bolt of the trap-door as soon as 
he had disappeared through it, and washed and dressed 
herself in a tremendous hurry. She was in such a fright 
lest Miss Rayne should walk into her room and observe 
anything unusual m its appearance. She shook up her 
bed and re-made it, and set everything in apple-pie order, 
giving many a wistful glance meanwhile at the closed trap- 
door that hid her lover. Her aunt awaked, as she had 
feared, earlier than usual. Will Caryll’s defalcations of the 
night before had weighed upon her mind, and cut short her 
slumbers. In a very little while her voice was heard call- 
ing up the stairs, — 

“ Evelyn ! Evelyn ! Did that boy come home last 
night ? ” 

“ I didn’t let him in, aunt,” replied Eve, over the banis- 
ters ; “ no one entered the house after I came to bed.” 

Miss Rayne mounted the staircase, as if to make sure, 
and opened the door of young Caryll^s untenanted room. 

“ It’s disgraceful ! ” she ejaculated ; “ a lad of his age — 
only twenty in May — stopping out all night in this manner. 
Where has he been, I should like to know? Such dis- 
reputable proceedings are enough to give the house a bad 
name. But I shall write to Mr. Caryll on the subject. 
Either he must put a stop to it, or William Caryll must go. 
I wonder, Evelyn, you don’t see it in the same light as I 
do.” 

“ I do see it in the same light, auntie,” said Eve gravely. 
“ I think it is very wrong of Will, and you are quite right 
in forbidding it.” 


54 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Well, well, child, you are always good and amenable,” 
replied Miss Rayne mollified, “ and I only wish your cousin 
would take pattern by you. Dqn’t worry about him any 
more. He’s safe enough, I’ll lay. Bad money is sure to 
come back on one’s hands. But come down ; run and get 
the breakfast ready. I’ll talk to Mr. Gamble about this 
when he’s had his — ” 

“Aunt,” said Evelyn, as they entered the kitchen 
together, “ don’t you think it would be better to leave the 
discussion of Will’s behavior till to-morrow ? It can’t be 
a pleasant subject to Mr. Gamble, and this is Sunday, you 
know, the day of peace and rest. Unless he begins it, I 
wouldn’t bother Mr. Gamble about our own troubles to- 
day.” 

“ Lor, child, you talk like an old woman of fifty ! How- 
ever, you’re right for all that, and we should try to put all 
our worries on one side on Sunday. And I think Mr. 
Gamble is going over to Waterloo, so I dare say I shouldn’t 
have had the opportunity. Don’t take that loaf for toasj;, 
my dear. There’s a staler one in the cupboard. And I’d 
like a little boiled bread and milk myself. I’ve had the 
toothache half the night ! I was nearly coming upstairs 
to ask you to get me a poultice.” 

Evelyn shuddered as she thought of the risk Will had 
run, but Miss Rayne saw no change in her countenance. 

“ I’m half afraid I sha’n’t get' to church this morning,” 
she went on presently, “ for they leave all the doors and 
windows open this warm weather, and there’s always the 
fear of a draught. But you can go as usual, of course, 
Evelyn, my dear.” 

“ Thank you, auntie.” 

“And now, if the water boils, just make a cup of tea for 
me and yourself before you go on with the breakfast. You 
look very white, child ; do you feel ill? ” 

“ Oh, no ; lam quite well — only a little tired with sitting 
up so late. But you shall have the tea in a few minutes, 
auntie.” 

Miss Rayne walked away to dust the sitting-rooms, and 
superintend Sarah’s operations ; and Evelyn, having carried 
in her tea, poured her own share into a clean bottle, and 
placed it in a drawer. 

“ Take a cup yourself, child ! ” called out Miss Rayne 
from the front parlor ; “ for you look as if it would do you 
good.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


55 


She was really fond of her niece, although she considered 
it her duty to look strictly after her ; and she plied her so 
liberally with food that morning, that Evelyn had a good 
supply to carry to her prisoner on the roof by the time 
she went up to put on her walking things. 

“ Will,” she cried, when she had locked the door and 
unbolted the trap ; “ my poor Will, here is your breakfast ; 
and now I am going as fast a$ I can to Uncle Caryll’s, to 
bring you back news of what he intends to do.” 

Will dared not answer for fear of being heard from 
below, so he only nodded his head as he received the 
parcel of food and bottle of tea, and commenced at once 
to demolish them. And Evelyn put on her Sunday 
frock, and hat and mantle, and set out tremblingly for her 
uncle’s house. She had heard such terrible accounts of 
Mr. Caryll that she pictured him to herself as some ogre, 
ready to snap one’s head off for the least word, and she 
would sooner have faced a wild beast than dared him in 
his den. But it was no time to think of her own fears. 
Will’s safety and well-doing were at stake, and it was im- 
peratively necessary that she should find out how far the 
firm were aware of his short-comings, and what they meant 
to do concerning them. Perhaps — if he would listen to 
her — she might persuade her uncle to pardon him this time, 
and take him back into his office. But, even if he did so, 
Evelyn felt in her heart that something had gone out of 
her life that could never be replaced there. 


CHAPTER VII. 

UNCLE ROGER. 

Number 24 Birkenhead Square was a large and imposing 
mansion in appearance, but very dull. Eve thought, as 
she came in sight of it, that it looked more like a hospital 
or a prison than a private house, it had such begrimed 
and dusty windows, shaded by wire blinds, and with no 
lace curtains or bright colors to make them homelike and 
pleasant. As she glanced up, she wondered how any one 
who owned Mount Eden and such a lot of money could 
live in so gloomy a place. Many other people besides 


5 $ 


MOUNT EDEN 


Eve had wondered the same, and called Mr. Roger Cary 11 
stingy, and a miser, for sticking to commerce to amass 
more wealth, when he could not spend what he possessed 
already. But they did not understand the working of the 
merchant’s heart. He, too, thought of Mount Eden, and 
how happy he had once been there, and how all the hap- 
piness had vanished like a dream, and his soul sickened 
as he remembered it. Liverpool, with its bustling, dirty 
streets, and the dark office for day, and the dull, empty, 
house for night time, suited him better now than all the 
sunshine and the flowers of Mount Eden. He could bear 
them better. They kept him brooding, but the other 
would have driven him mad. For his was a sad life-history. 
He had once been a poor clerk in a counting-house, too 
poor to dream of marrying the woman of his choice, from 
whom he had been forced to part, with many tears, in order 
to accept a situation in the West Indies. But Fortune had 
unexpectedly smiled on him, and after several years’ hard 
work and absence, he had returned home a rich man, to 
And his old love (contrary to the usual custom) both faith- 
ful and free, and himself in a position to reward her fidel- 
ity. 

They had married, and for a while were perfectly happy. 
Mr. Caryll’s good luck continued. His shillings seemed 
to have the most marvellous faculty for turning themselves 
into pounds, and he moved from one house to another, 
until he occupied a palatial residence in Liverpool. By 
this time he had become the senior partner in the firm of 
Caryll, Tyndal & Masters, timber merchants. There was 
only one thing wanting to complete his happiness — an 
heir to inherit his wealth. At last that came also. When 
they had given up all hope of possessing such a blessing, 
a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Caryll, and in the pleni- 
tude of his pride and felicity, the father purchased the 
magnificent estate of Mount Eden in Hampshire, and built 
the house which now stood thereon. It was to be the 
marriage portion — so he used to say — of his beloved son. 
His wife and he would continue to occupy it till that 
happy occasion, and then they would vacate in favor 
of their little Hugh. But when the Carylls seemed to 
have reached the zenith of their happiness and success, 
the tide of luck turned, and misfortune commenced to flow 
in upon them instead. Is it not often so in this world of 


MOUNT EDEN. 


57 


disappointment and trouble ? The cup that is raised to 
our lips is too often like the cup of Tantalus — filled, but 
to baffle our efforts to reach it. Mr. Caryll’s misforturfes 
began with the death of his wife. The faithful woman who 
had loved him throughout their hopeless separation died 
in giving birth to a still-born child, when Hugh was about 
five years old. Mr. Caryll never recovered the shock. 
Her last word and her last look had been for him, but the 
remembrance only added to his grief. Why had God taken 
away the light of his eyes at one stroke, and spared the 
wealth which became as dross in his sight without her? 
He went on living, it is true, but his existence had lost its 
chief aim, and his only consolation lay in the nurture of his 
little son. He was still piling up riches. Each ship he 
chartered brought him home a golden freight, and he had 
more money than he knew what to do with. Many women 
would have been glad to step into the late Mrs. Caryll’s 
shoes, but the widower never dreamt of its being possible 
to marry again. All was to be for Hugh. Hugh was to 
succeed his father as head of the mercantile firm in Liver- 
pool that bore their name, and Mr. Caryll determined to 
initiate his son in all the duties of so responsible a position. 
For this purpose he took the boy from school at sixteen 
years old, and, moving from Mount Eden to Livefpool, 
placed him in his counting-house. But Hugh had been 
sadly spoiled. The routine, work, and close confinement 
to the office chafed his nervous and excitable temperament ; 
he missed the free life he led in the country ; and, tempted 
by some wild companions of his own age, he ran away to 
sea without a word of warning, and broke his father’s 
heart. Not but what Mr. Caryll would have brought him 
back again at any cost and granted him his heart’s desire 
— had the boy lived. But, before the merchant ship in 
which he sailed came back to port, the news arrived that 
poor, wilful Hugh had been drowned by the upsetting of a 
boat in the surf in the Bay of Callao. 

This second blow at his affections completely prostrated 
poor Mr. Caryll. His face became lined and puckered, 
his figure bent, and his hair white as snow. His speech 
and manner, too, were altered. He had always been a firm 
and decided character, but he now degenerated into being 
stern and rough, which had made Will liken him to a bear. 
At sixty years of age he looked like an old man of eighty. 


58 


MOUNT EDEN. 


Still, he remained cognisant of the duties dependant on 
him as the owner of so vast a property. His wife and 
child were gone, but others remained to benefit by his pos- 
sessions, and after a while he began to look about him, 
and interest himself more in his relations than he had 
hitherto done. His family was a small one. He had had 
a brother and a sister, — now both dead, — but each had 
left a child behind without any visible means of subsistence. 
His nephew, William Caryll, became Mr. Caryll’s first care. 
The lad’s mother had married again, and moved into the 
country, and, after some difficulty, he found him in some 
obscure situation in a draper’s house in London, and 
brought him up to Liverpool and put him in Hugh’s place 
in his office. And how Will Caryll had requited his 
uncle’s kindness has already been told. 

There was something of heroic fortitude in the feeling 
with which Evelyn Rayne approached the door of the 
house in Birkenhead Square. Her uncle was a stranger 
to her. He had never even taken the trouble to ask to see 
her since the day when she had paid him a visit, clinging 
to her mother’s gown. On her own account she never 
could have ventured into his presence, but fear for Will 
made her as bold as a lion. So she mounted the dingy 
steps that led to the melancholy-looking mansion, and rung 
the hall-bell. A man-servant in plain clothes answered it. 
He was an elderly man, and not at all smart, but he looked 
eminently respectable. He seemed very much surprised 
to see Evelyn standing there, and he asked her rather 
sharply what she required. 

11 1 want to see Mr. Caryll, please.” 

“You can’t see him to-day ; it’s Sunday.” 

“ I know that, but my business is very particular. Will 
you tell him that his^niece, Miss Rayne, wishes to speak 
to him ? ” 

“ I’m sure I beg your pardon, Miss. Please walk in, 
and I’ll tell Mr. Caryll you’re here. But it’s very seldom 
he’ll see any one on a Sunday.” 

At this moment, however, a sharp, gruff voice called out 
from the dining-room, — 

“ Who’s that, Barnes ? ” 

And a sudden courage, born of despair, made Evelyn 
Rayne start forward to the open door, exclaiming, — 

“ It’s I, Uncle Roger — Evelyn, your niece. Oh, do let 
me speak to you ! ” 


MOUNT EDEN 


59 


Mr. Caryll was seated at his breakfast-table, looking very 
rough and unkempt. He was unshorn ; his white hair was 
tossed about in some disorder ; and he wore a dark-grey 
flannel dressing-gown. But as he caught sight of Evelyn 
Rayne, he leapt from his chair and grasped her by the arm, 
regarding her fixedly in the face the while. 

‘“You — you — ■” he gasped — “you are Evelyn Rayne — 
poor Mary’s child ? ” 

“ Yes,” replied Evelyn, frightened at his manner ; “but 
don’t be angry with me, uncle, I have only come to speak 
to you for a moment.” 

Mr. Caryll relaxed his grasp, and tottered back to his 
chair. 

“ I’m not angry, child,” he answered, and then he covered 
his face with his hands, and muttered, “So like — so very 
like ! ” 

Eve did not know whom she was like, unless it was her 
dead mother ; but she no longer felt afraid of her uncle. 
By-and-bye she ventured to speak again. 

“You will think it very strange my coming here, I am 
afraid, when you have never asked me, uncle ; but we are 
in great distress at home, and I came to you for informa- 
tion.” 

“ All right, sit down. What is it you have to say ? ” 

Evelyn took a chair, but Mr. Caryll did not look at her 
again, but listened with his head leaning on his hand. 

“ Will has not been home since yesterday morning, 
uncle. Auntie and I sat up till twelve o’clock last night to 
let him in, but he never came, and we are frightened. Can 
you tell us where he is ? ” 

“ Oh ! he’s not been home, hasn’t he ? ” remarked Mr. 
Caryll, from behind the shelter of his hand. “ He’s afraid 
to show his face there, as well he- may be ! Likely enough 
he’ll never be heard of again, and lucky for him if he isn’t.” 

“ But, sir, what has he done ? ” inquired Evelyn, with a 
troubled face. “ Is anything wrong, that you should speak 
of Will like that ? ” 

“ Wrong! Everything’s wrong. The boy’s an ungrateful 
scamp, that I feel ashamed to have befriended. I took him 
from serving behind the counter of a button-shop in St. 
Paul’s Churchyard, and put him in a position in my office, 
where he might have risen to anything — anything;, and he 
has requited my goodness by first robbing the firm, and 
then bolting from the consequences of his crime.” 


6o 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Oh, uncle, he didn’t rob you, surely ? ” cried Evelyn. 

“ He did worse, Evelyn, He stole my cheques and 
forged my name. He hasn’t even cleverness enough to be 
a good thief. He did the job so clumsily that a child 
might have detected the fraud. But he will meet with his 
deserts yet.” 

“ Will they send the detectives after him ? ” asked the 
girl, in a low voice of horror. 

“ Most certainly they will. The forged cheque was in 
the hands of the police last night, and if to-day were not 
Sunday, Master William Caryll would be in their hands by 
this time. As it is, they must wait till to-morrow. But 
they’ll have him locked up by to-morrow night — you may 
depend upon that.” 

“ But oh, uncle, will you not spare him ? ” cried Evelyn, 
leaving her seat and approaching Mr. Caryll’s chair. “ He 
is very young, you know, and this is his first offence.” 

“No, my dear, it is not his first offence. He has stolen 
postage stamps and loose change over and over again, but 
I hoped he would take warning by what was said to him. 
But this is far more serious. He has committed a felon)'.” 

< ‘ I can’t think how he can have done it,” said Evelyn, 
with the tears in her eyes. “ He must have been mad; 
and I am sure he is sorry for it now. Oh, sir ! Oh, 
uncle ! won’t you let him off this time, and give him one 
more chance ? Think how his whole future will be blasted 
if you prosecute him for this terrible offence.” 

Mr. Caryll shoved his spectacles down upon his nose^ 
and peered at her curiously through them. 

“ What’s your interest in this young man ? ” he asked. 

Evelyn blushed like a rose. 

“ He is my cousin,” she answered, looking down,“ and h^, 
has lived with us now for two years. It would be terrible 
for both Aunt Maria and me if Will were to be put in 
prison — or transported. It would affect our name, as well 
as yours, uncle.” 

“ I know that ; but I can’t cheat the law for my own 
convenience. Besides, the matter is out of my hands. It 
concerns the firm, and Messrs. Tyndal and Masters are 
resolved to prosecute him on their own account. Such a 
young miscreant must be made an example of, or we shall 
have all the clerks in the office embezzling and forging.” 

Evelyn did not answer him this time. She was weeping 
siiently. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


61 


“I’m sorry for you, child — that is, if you like the lad,” 
resumed Mr. Caryil presently, “ and if the matter had con- 
cerned myself alone, I might have granted your request. 
But no one could save him from his just punishment now. 
We have given him up to the law, and the law must take its 
course. There’s no help for it.” 

“And when they find him, they will put him in prison,” 
sobbed Evelyn. 

“ Decidedly, and then transport him,” replied Mr. 
Caryil ; “ and, after all, I think it’s the best thing they can 
do, for he’ll never be any good in England — you may take 
my word for that. Did Miss Rayne send you to me ? ” 

“ No, sir. I came of myself.” 

“ Because you thought I could save him ? ” 

“ Because I thought you would tell me where he is, 
uncle.” 

“ Well, I don’t know, Evelyn, and I don’t want to know. 
If he’s in Liverpool, he’ll be in custody to-morrow, there’s 
no doubt of that. And I don’t think he’s worth crying 
over either. He’s a scamp that’s worth no honest girl’s 
tears. How old are you ? ” 

“ Seventeen, sir.” 

“ And have you ever been to school? ” 

“ Oh, yes. Aunt Maria always sent me till last year. 
But now I stay at home, and help her with the lodgers.” 

“ And it’s not very pleasant work, I expect ? ” 

“ I don’t mind it, uncle. Auntie has been very good to 
me. It is my duty to help her as far as I can.” 

“ That’s a good girl. Well, dry your eyes and go home, 
and don’t waste any more tears over your Cousin William. 
Perhaps I may see your aunt and you, after a few days, 
but I have no more time to talk to you now.” 

And taking up his Sunday papers, Mr. Caryil buried his 
face from view in them. 

“ Very well, uncle. Good morning,” said Evelyn meekly, 
as she turned away. 

As she closed the door behind her, and stepped into the 
hall, she was met by Barnes. 

“ You’ve quite upset the master, Miss, I can hear it in 
the tone of his voice,” he said, “ by your likeness to Master 
Hugh. Well, you are like him, there’s no denying it. / 
never seen such a likeness in my life,” he continued, as he 
let her out at the front door. But Evelyn scarcely heeded 


62 


MOUNT EDEN. 


his remark. Her heart was too full of Will. She only 
wanted to get away somewhere, and think over what she 
had heard. She would save him, she kept on repeating to 
herself. Whatever the firm or the police might do, she 
would save Will at the risk of her own life. The first 
public square she came to, she walked in and sat down on 
a bench, and put her head down between her two hands, 
and thought hard — hard. What was the best thing to do ? 
Yet, when it was time to walk home to the two o’clock 
dinner, she had arrived at no satisfactory conclusion. But 
when she handed up to Will the food she had managed to 
secrete for him, there was a little note in the parcel. 

“ Dear Will,” it ran, “ keep up your spirits. I am 
turning over schemes in my mind for your escape, and I 
am sure I shall succeed. I will tell you all to-night. — Eve.” 

She had an extra source of annoyance that afternoon 
from the fact of her aunt having become acquainted with 
the story of Will’s wickedness through Mr. Gamble. The 
two had spent the whole morning in denunciation of the 
lad’s conduct ; and Miss Bayne repeated it all as news to 
her niece on her return home. But she was not satisfied 
with Evelyn’s reception of it. 

“ Upon my word, I have no patience with you,” she 
exclaimed at last. “ Here am I telling you that we have 
been harboring a young man no better than a murderer 
under our roof, and you look as stolid as if he’d done 
nothing at all. Why, we might all have been murdered in 
our beds. A lad who’ll forge his master’s name would do 
anything. But he doesn’t enter my doors again, Evelyn 
Rayne. If William Caryll comes knocking for admittance 
here, and you let him in, you’ll both go put together. 
Don’t forget that. But he’s too cunning to try it. Mr. 
Gamble says he’s most likely hiding in some of those low 
places near the river, and the police will have him safe 
enough by to-morrow evening. The young wretch.” 

“ Poor Will,” said Evelyn softly. 

“ Ah ! poor Will, indeed ! Poor Mr. Caryll, you mean, 
who’s lost fifty pounds and more by his wicked behavior ; 
but there, I believe you’d pity Will if he was hanging on 
the gallows. I’ve no patience with you, Evelyn. Your 
heart’s a deal too soft to go through the world with, and 
it’ll bring you to trouble yet. Are you going to afternoon 
church ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN. 63 

“ No, aunt. I’m tired. I’d rather stay at home and 
read.” ( 

“ Ah, well ; read, or do anything rather than waste your 
time thinking of that scamp,” said Miss Rayne, as she left 
the room. 

But Evelyn thought of nothing else, and by night-time 
she had matured her plans. When all the house was 
asleep, and she ventured to let Will enter her room again 
by the trap-door, she whispered to him what had occurred 
during her interview with their uncle. The lad’s look of 
hopeless despair was a picture. 

“ It’s all over,” he gasped; “they will trap me, as sure 
as a gun, and I shall be transported for life. Oh, Eve, 
what shall I do ? What shall I do ? ” 

“ Hush ! hush ! dear Will. Don’t cry, or you will upset 
my fortitude as well. Listen to me, dear. I am going to 
save you ! ” 

“ You, Eve ! But how ? ” 

“ It will not be an agreeable thing to do, I know, but 
you must do it if you want to escape. You must put on a 
set of my clothes.” 

“ Nonsense ; they will never fit me.” 

“ / will make them fit you. I have a dark winter suit in 
my box, and I am going to sit up all night and alter it. 
And then you must change the color of your hair.” 

“ How can I do that? ” 

“ You have often laughed at poor auntie for dyeing her 
grey hair brown. It is lucky for you now that she does so. 
I have got the bottle out of her room, and I am going to 
put it all over your head at once.” 

Will put his hands up to shield his golden locks. 

“ Oh, bother, I can’t have that ; you’ll spoil my hair ! ” 
he exclaimed, in his conceit. 

Eve looked at him with pitiful surprise. 

“ And can you think of your hair at a moment like this ? 
Why, Will, if they take you they’ll shave it all off.” 

His face lengthened. 

“ All right, then ; go ahead, and get it over. But what 
am I to do next ? ” 

“ My proposal is this,” she whispered, as she began to 
damp his hair with the brown dye ; “ there are emigrant 
ships lying in the docks, Will,’ and two of them sail to- 
morrow. I have some money for you — fifteen pounds — 


6 4 


MOUNT EDEN 


which I got by selling my mother’s jewellery, and I think 
your best plan will be to walk out of the house boldly as 
soon as it is light, and make your way down to the docks, 
and take your passage, as a girl, to America.” 

“ But they’ll ask my name,” said Will in a vacant 
manner. 

“ Oh, call yourself by any name,” cried Eve impatiently 
— “Ann Jones, or Ellen Brown — what does it matter? 
but be very careful not to betray yourself. The officers 
may come on board to search the vessel, — they most likely 
will, — but if you play your part well, I think you will cheat 
them. The great thing, Will, in a case like this is to be 
bold. People take you so much for what you seem. Mr. 
Gamble says they all believe you to be in hiding near the 
river. They won’t suspect you of walking abroad in day- 
light. They think you would be too much afraid. And 
you must go aboard the biggest ship. There are two 
ready to sail. I walked down to the quay, after I had 
seen uncle this morning, to look at them. There’s the 
‘Anna Maria’ and the ‘Nuremberg Castle.’ You must 
go by the ‘Nuremberg.’ You know where the tickets 
are sold ? It won’t cost you more than six pounds ; and 
if any one asks you any questions about yourself, say 
your brother’s out in New York, and sent the money home 
for you to join him. But say as little as you need, Will, 
till you be well out to sea, for talking is dangerous, and you 
might make a slip of the tongue, and betray yourself.” 

So Eve rambled on, as she dyed his hair, and combed it 
till it was dry. 

“ It’s lucky your hair curls,” she continued presently, 
“ because it makes you look more like a girl. You’ll make 
a prettier girl than I do, Will ; and when you get to 
America, and put on your own things again, the* dye will 
soon wear off your hair, and leave it the right color again.” 

“ I’d better take my own things in a bundle, Eve.” 

“ Oh no ! that would be far too dangerous. Supposing 
any one saw them ? But I’ll send them after you, Will, as 
soon as I safely can, addressed in your own name to the 
New York Customs House, and you can go and fetch 
them — say in a fortnight’s time. And, meanwhile, you 
must buy yourself a suit on arrival.” 

“ Fancy your selling your mother’s trinkets to help me 
on ! It was awfully good of you, upon my word, Eve.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


65 


“ Don’t speak of it, Will ; I did it in hopes of getting 
enough to satisfy Mr. Todson ; and at first, when I found 
you had paid him, I felt sorry — but now I am very, very 
* glad. What should we have done in this strait without 
money ? ” 

“ What, indeed ? You have been my savior, Eve. I 
shall never forget it. What can I do to show my grati- 
tude?” 

“ Lie down on the bed, Will, and have a 'good sleep, 
whilst I prepare your clothes. You have a trying day 
before you to-morrow. Get all the rest you can to-night.” 

He lay down, as he had done the night before, looking 
so strangely unlike himself with his altered hair, and was 
soon fast asleep. 

Then Eve drew out her work-basket and her winter 
dress, and sat down and stitched for several hours, lengthen- 
ing the skirt, enlarging the band, and letting out the bodice 
to suit her cousin’s larger frame. By the time the day had 
dawned, she had everything ready for him, with a few 
articles for change put up in a bundle, and the precious 
fifteen sovereigns in a purse. And then, before she waked 
the slumbering youth, she knelt down beside him and 
offered up a prayer from her heart for his preservation. 
She was bearing up so bravely for his sake, that she did 
not know how deeply his danger and their approaching 
separation were eating into her very soul. 

“ Wake up, Will,” she whispered presently, as she gently 
shook him by the arm, “ wake up. Five has just struck 
by the town clock. I am going into the next room till you 
have washed and dressed yourself, and when you want me, 
knock very softly on the wall, and I shall hear you and 
come back again.” 

She slipped out of the room without her shoes as she 
spoke, and went into Will’s empty apartment, whence she 
listened, with a heart beating with fear, for any sounds of 
disturbance amongst the rest of the household. But all 
went smoothly. Will washed and dressed himself, and 
presently his tap upon the intervening wall brought Eve 
back again to find him struggling with the buttons of her 
dress. But he was not so awkward as might have been 
imagined. He had often posed as a woman for amateur 
theatricals, and knew something of the intricacies of a 
female wardrobe. When he was fully equipped, he looked 

3 


66 


MOUNT EDEN. 


very much what he professed to be. His delicate features 
lent themselves to his disguise, and his brown hair effec- 
tually spoilt his likeness to Will Caryll. When he had 
placed a dark brown straw hat over his curls, he made a 
very personable girl. 

“Oughtn’t I to have a veil? ” he asked her. 

“ No, Will, it would only rouse suspicion. Girls who go 
out as emigrants don’t wear veils. But pin this shawl 
over your shoulders. I’m afraid it will be very warm, but 
it hides your figure, and you will find it useful on board 
ship. And here is the money, dear, and some clean linen 
in this bundle. And now, Will, it must be a bold stroke 
for liberty. I will go down first, to make sure that auntie 
is still in bed, and then I will return for you.” She walked 
downstairs as she spoke, passing her aunt’s door, and those 
of the lodgers, but everything was still as death. “ They 
are all asleep,” she said, on returning, “ and you will not 
take two minutes to descend the stairs, and I shall open 
the hall door for you at once. Walk boldly out, Will, and 
get some breakfast at a coffee-house before you go down to 
the quay. I dare not give you any here, it would be too 
dangerous.” 

“All right,” said Will Caryll, “ I am ready.” 

But here the girl’s fortitude gave way, and she turned a 
piteous face towards him. 

“ I must say good-bye to you here,” she moaned. “ Oh, 
Will, my darling, shall we ever see one another again ? ” 

The tears rushed to his eyes also. He folded Eve in 
his arms, and they wept silently together. 

“ Of course we shall,” he whispered presently ; “ I shall 
be all right by-and-bye, Eve, and then I shall send money 
home for you to come out and join me. For you won’t 
forget that we are promised to each other — will you — and 
that we are to be husband and wife ? ” 

“ Never-never,” she sobbed. 

“ You are mine — as much as if I had married you, Eve 
— I shall always consider that ; and if I don’t come back 
for years, I shall expect to find you waiting for me, as I 
shall for you. Will you swear to be faithful to me? ” 

“ Oh, yes ! I swear it ! ” 

And if uncle comes round (as I daresay he will, after a 
while) and sends for me home again, or if he dies and 
leaves me Mount Eden, we are to share it together, aren’t 
we, Eve ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN 


67 


“ Yes, dear, but just now you must think only of your- 
self and your safety. You will be careful, won’t you, 
Will ? — and wh£n you get work in America, you will keep 
very very straight, for my sake as well as your own ? ” 

“ Of course I will, Eve ! This has been all a beastly 
mistake, I assure you. If it hadn’t been for that interfer- 
ing impertinent old brute Gamble, I should have paid it 
all back again, and no one would have been the -wiser.” 

To the last, and even in the crisis of his danger, Will 
Caryll remained the same — obstinate, foolish, and self- 
assured — and yet Eve loved him. 

“ God bless you ! God keep you, my darling ! ” she 
sobbed, as she kissed him again and again. “ It would be 
selfish to keep you longer — it might imperil your safety. 
I have a thousand more things to say to you, but they all 
seem to end up with God bless you. But you will write 
to me, Will, as soon as you have arrived in New York? ” 

“ Oh, yes ; of course I will write to you.” 

“ Then one more kiss, and let us part.” 

The parting kiss was exchanged very solemnly, and 
then Eve opened the bedroom door again and went down- 
stairs, Will Caryll treading with her, step by step, so that 
their descent sounded like that of one. As they passed 
Miss Rayne’s door, they had a fright. 

“ Eve ! ” she called from her bed, “ is that you ? ” 

“ Yes, aunt,” Eve replied, but she did not arrest her 
footsteps. 

“ What are you up so early for? ” 

“ I have a headache. I couldn’t sleep,” returned her 
niece, who, with Will Caryll, by this time had gained the 
hall. 

“ Well, as you are up, make me a cup of tea, my dear. 
I have the toothache again, terribly.” 

“All right, auntie. You shall have it as soon as the 
kettle boils,” said Eve, as with a face as white as death 
from the suspense she had gone through, she unbolted the 
hall door, and threw it open to the morning air. The 
street in which they lived was empty from one end to the 
other. 

She pointed silently to the pavement, as though to bid 
Will go. He glanced about fearfully, on the look-out for 
a policeman. 

“ Be brave ! ” she whispered, “ it is your only chance. 


68 


MOUNT EDEN. 


Go at once, and get clear of this house as soon as pos- 
sible. ” 

And then he walked away, awkwardly enough, with his 
bundle in his hand, and Eve gazed after him for a moment 
in agony, thinking that every one must detect his sex at 
the first glance. But at last he turned the corner without 
one backward look, and she closed the door upon him, and 
leant her head against it in a kind of dumb and hopeless 
pain. 

“ Eve ! Eve ! ” called out Miss Rayne again ; “ when 
am I to have that tea ? ” 

Eve started from her stupor. Had she been leaning 
there a minute or an hour ? She could not tell. But she 
staggered to the kitchen and lit the fire, and put on the 
kettle, and made the tea, and carried it up to her aunt’s 
room. 

All the excitement and the suspense were over now, and 
the reaction was setting in. Eve hardly knew what she 
thought, or hoped, or wished for as she stood by Miss 
Rayne’s side, with the cup of tea in her hand. 

“Well! you have been a time,” grumbled Aunt 
Maria ; “ I began to think you were making the wood and 
the coals. And how white you look, too ! Have you 
seen a ghost downstairs, or have you been out of your bed 
all night ? I expect you lie awake reading trashy novels 
and burning my candles, Evelyn Rayne, and I won’t have 
it, and so I warn you ! Now, tell me the truth. What 
have you been doing to yourself? ” 

“ Nothing, auntie. But I have such a queer feeling in 
my head,” “ said the girl faintly, and the next minute she 
had fallen flat down on the floor, beside Miss Rayne’s 
bed. 

“ Good gracious ! ” exclaimed the old lady, as she upset 
the tea all over herself, and scrambled out of bed to her 
assistance, “ Mercy on us ! If she hasn’t fainted ! ” 


MOUNT EDEN 


69 


CHAPTER VIII. 

AN IMMENSE SURPRISE. 

Evelyn did not hear the last of that unfortunate fainting 
fit for a long time, mingled with the subject of Will Caryll’s 
extraordinary disappearance. It rung in her ears for days 
afterwards. 

“ Such an unheard-of thing,” Miss Rayne would exclaim, 
“ that you should faint. You’ve never fainted in your life 
before, that I ever heard of, and here, on the very day 
that that good-for-nothing fellow, Will Caryll, disappears, 
you must needs tumble down by my bedside like a fine 
lady with the vapors ; it is very annoying of you, Evelyn. 
I don’t know what Sarah can have thought of it, ‘ Lor,’ 
she says to me, ‘ here’s Miss Eve fainted straight off, 
and Mr. William hasn’t been in his bed all night.’ Such 
disgraceful proceedings ! They really make me quite 
ashamed.” 

“ I’m very sorry, aunt,” replied Evelyn, in a weak, low 
voice, “ but I told you the reason. I have been sitting 
up so late at night the last week, and I was over tired.” 

“ Yes ; sitting up to let that young scamp in, so that I 
shouldn’t hear of his misdoings ! You encouraged him, 
Evelyn, in all his wickedness. I consider half his crimes 
should be laid at your door.” 

“ Oh, don’t say that,” cried the girl in tears. “ I would 
have saved him from them at any cost, but I didn’t know 
of them until it was too late.” 

“ Well, don’t cry, my dear, for he’s not worth a single 
tear. Didn’t I always say that he reminded me of 
Hogarth’s ‘ Idle Apprentice ? ’ It might have been 
drawn from Will Caryll. And where can he have hidden 
himself all this time ? That’s what beats me. Mr. Gam- 
ble says he can’t be in Liverpool, for the police have 
searched high and low, and went on board every ship in 
the docks. But (as I said) what was the use of that, for I 
know he hadn’t any money on Saturday morning, because 
he asked me to lend him twopence.” 


7o 


MOUNT EDEN 


“ What ships did they search ? ” asked Evelyn breath- 
lessly. 

Lor, child, how can I tell you ? They haven’t found 
him, more’s the pity.” 

“ Perhaps he has gone back to London, auntie.” 

u How could he get to London without money ? That 
fainting fit has dazed your brain, Evelyn Rayne. Unless, 
indeed, he’s pawned his clothes. I turned out his room 
this morning, and I found nothing there but a few old 
collars. He’s taken his things with him — the ungrateful 
scamp ! ” 

“ Well, they’d be no use to us , auntie,” replied Evelyn, 
who had them safely locked away in her box. 

“ Perhaps not ; but it shows he had it in his mind to 
run away all along. He was prepared for this, the villain. 
But a lad who could forge his master’s name would be 
prepared for anything. Mr. Gamble says the police are 
convinced he is not in Liverpool, neither can they hear 
anything of him, so they are going to turn their attention 
to London. And they’ll soon catch him there. They’ve 
got a full description of him, with his fine blue eyes, and 
his curly, fair hair, and they won’t be long running him 
down, / bet. And the sooner he’s caught the better, say 
I. Mr. Gamble said he’ll be transported for it, and if he 
was hung, I shouldn’t cry. He’s no good in the world, 
and a deal better out of it.” 

“ Oh, aunt, aunt, you are very hard on him,” exclaimed 
Evelyn ; “ can’t you make some allowance for his youth 
and his temptations ? He has been very wrong, I know 
that, but he will suffer bitterly for it all his life long.” 

“ And serve him right too,” replied Miss Rayne hotly. 
“ Good gracious me, that I should live to hear my own 
flesh and blood standing up for a forger ! Do you under- 
stand what forgery is, Evelyn Rayne, and that your fine 
cousin, William Caryll, is no better than a common thief? ” 

“ Oh, yes ! I understand it only too well. But we can- 
not judge of the extent of a sin until we know all the 
circumstances attending it.” 

“ Oh, can’t we ? That’s your opinion, is it ? But I 
happen to have my own. And I’d like to see Will Caryll 
in prison to-morrow for defrauding such a good, kind 
uncle as Mr. Caryll has been to him. And to think he 
should have passed you over — his own sister’s child — for 


MOUNT EDEN. 


71 


the sake of an ungrateful scamp like that. Well, I hope 
he’ll see the mistake he’s made now. Better late than 
never. Though, if you’re going to take to fainting fits, 
Evelyn Rayne, I don’t know that he will gain much by the 
exchange. Fainting, indeed ! I never heard of such non- 
sense. I never fainted in my life, and I don’t know by. 
what right you presumed to do so.” 

“I won’t do it again, auntie, I promise you,” said Eve 
earnestly. “ And it isn’t pleasant either. I felt ill all day 
afterwards.” 

“Well, if you’ll prevent it for the future, I’ve nothing, 
more to say on the subject. But you frightened me, my 
dear, that’s the fact, and at my age such things tell.” 

So ran on Miss Rayne under the excitement of young 
Caryll’s misdeeds. And Monday, and Tuesday, and Wed- 
nesday passed without any news being gained of him. 
Evelyn’s heart was singing a hymn of gratitude the while, 
of which the refrain was, “ He is safe” for she had read in 
a local paper of the departure of both the “Anna Maria” 
and the “ Nuremberg Castle,” so, in whichever vessel Will 
had procured a berth, he had left Liverpool, and was on 
hi? way to New York. The excitement and the dread of 
discovery kept her up for the first few days, but as the 
week wore to its close, and she realized that Will was 
gone, and there was no more immediate cause for fear, the 
fact of their separation, and the uncertainty of its duration, 
bore in upon her mind, and weighed her spirits to the very 
ground. Everything seemed over. Even the clothes he 
left behind him had been packed in a parcel and secretly 
conveyed to the luggage office, and booked for New York 
Customs House in his name. And then all was gone, 
except the remembrance of his crime, and the knowledge 
that it must be a long time before he could venture to show 
his face in England again. The reaction had a visible 
effect, both on Evelyn’s health and spirits. She mourned 
the loss of her young lover as though he had been dead, 
and the burden was all the heavier to bear, because she 
was ashamed to confess its weight to anyone. But she 
grew thinner, and sallower, and more lanky, and her big, 
dark eyes looked like two burnt holes in a blanket in the 
midst of her yellow face. She did not work less in the 
daytime, but she went about her business languidly and 
with trouble ; and crying half the night for her absent Will 


72 


MOUNT EDEN. 


did not improve the state of affairs. She was not ill- 
tempered, but she became very silent, and did not seem 
to care to leave the house ; and when her aunt insisted on 
her taking a walk for the sake of her health, she always 
went straight to the churchyard to weep on her mother’s 
grave, and renew the vow which she had made there — to 
be faithful and true to Will forever. He would come back 
some day — she was sure of that, however long it might be 
first — and when he came, he should find her just the same 
loving cousin from whom he had parted, even if the hair 
of both of them was grey. 

One afternoon, about three weeks after Will’s departure, 
as she returned home from one of those melancholy visits 
to the cemetery, she was met at the doorstep by her Aunt 
Maria, in a great state of flurry and excitement. 

“ Here you are at last, Evelyn. What a time you’ve 
been ! I’ve been watching for you for the last half-hour.” 

“Oh, aunt, I am sorry ! But is it late? You told me 
to stay out till tea-time.” 

“ No, my dear, it’s not your fault. It’s quite early yet ; 
but I’ve a surprise for you. Who do you think is in the 
parlor ? ” continued Miss Rayne, lowering her voice. 

Evelyn became as white as a sheet. Could Will have 
been caught, or returned ? 

“ I cannot guess. Please tell me quickly.” 

“Your Uncle Roger, and he wants to see you.” 

“Me?” ejaculated Evelyn, her spirits sinking as she 
remembered the interview in Birkenhead Square. “Oh, 
aunt, you must be mistaken.” 

“ Not at all. I’ve seen him myself, and he’s doing us 
the honor to take a cup of tea with us. Now, run up and 
make yourself tidy, and come down as quickly as you can.” 

Evelyn did not expostulate further. She had been 
agreeably disappointed by her first view of her uncle, and 
was not afraid to meet him again. Only she dreaded lest 
he should have come expressly to discuss poor Will’s delin- 
quencies, and try to find out more about him and his 
mysterious escape. And Evelyn felt that she had rather 
not be subjected to a cross-examination under the fire of 
those two keen grey eyes that sparkled under Mr. Caryll’s 
bushy brows. However, she bathed her face and brushed 
her hair, and descended to the little parlor. If it had to 
be done, it would gain no improvement from delay. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


73 


Mr. Roger Caryll, dressed in a complete suit of dark- 
grey frieze, was occupying their solitary arm-chair, and 
drinking a cup of tea handed him by Miss Rayne. He 
looked very old and bent, but not so untidy as he had done 
in his own house, and his eyes kept on turning expectantly 
towards the door, whilst he scarcely heard or listened to 
the running list of compliments with which his hostess was 
entertaining him. For Miss Rayne was hoping all sorts 
of good things from this unexpected visit, though she had 
little idea in what it would really result 

“Good evening, uncle,” said Evelyn deferentially, as 
she entered the room. 

She was looking her very worst, poor child, with a pale 
face and dark rims under her eyes, and clad in a stuff dress 
of the ugliest shade of brown. 

“Holloa! what’s the matter? Have you been ill?” 
exclaimed Mr. Caryll, peering at her through his spectacles. 

“ Evelyn has not been well this last week or two — far 
from it,” replied Miss Rayne ; “ she wants change of air, I 
think, and many things that I can’t give her, Mr. Caryll, 
as you must well know, however good my will may be.” 

She thought that since Mr. Caryll was there, she might 
as well put him in remembrance that he had a niece as well 
as a nephew. 

“ Of course — of course — naturally,” he said, in answer 
to her remark, and then he turned to Evelyn. “ Well, and 
so you’re poor Mary’s child ? ” 

“ Indeed she is ; and we’ve always considered her very 
like her poor dear mother,” interposed Miss Rayne. “ She’s 
a regular Caryll, isn’t she, sir?” 

The old man’s brow contracted with pain, but he forced 
himself to look at the girl. 

“ Yes,” he said, after a pause, “ you are right. She is a 
regular Caryll. There was a time when I was very fond 
of my sister, Miss Rayne.” 

“ Of course, sir, naturally. And I am sure poor Mary 
honored and respected you to the last day of her life.” 

“ I wish this girl had been a lad, that I might have put 
her in the place of that young rascal who has just run away 
from us,” continued Mr. Caryll. “ It seems hard he should 
have done so, Miss Rayne, for I am a lonely man now, 
and have few relations left.” 

“ It was shameful — disgraceful — the basest ingratitude ! ” 


74 


MOUNT EDEN. 


exclaimed Miss Rayne ; “ and I hope he’ll get his deserts, 
sir.” 

“ Yes, he will repent it more than I shall, you may be 
sure of that, for I never quite took to the lad. He didn’t 
remind me of my brother a bit. Edward had dark eyes 
and hair, like Mary and myself, and this girl here. That 
lad William was the image of his mother. He didn’t look 
like a Caryll to me. However, he’s gone, and there’s an 
end of it. He will never be able to show his face in this 
country again.” 

“ What ! Never ? ” cried Evelyn, startled out of her 
reserve. 

“ Certainly not — unless he wishes to be arrested for for- 
gery. The warrant is out against him, 'and will be availa- 
ble at any time of his existence. But don’t let us speak of 
him. I wish to forget that he ever lived, and if I could 
take the name of Caryll from him I would. But I am 
growing an old man now, Miss Rayne, and these late 
events have somewhat shaken me. I have been talking to 
my partners abotit quitting the firm. There is no neces- 
sity for my remaining in business. I have more money 
than I shall ever need, and I begin to feel my infirmities. 
So I have decided to live for the future at my country 
house. Perhaps you have heard that I have a place in 
Hampshire called Mount Eden — ” 

“ Heard , Mr. Caryll ! ” exclaimed Miss Rayne enthusi- 
astically, “ who has not heard of Mount Eden ? And once, 
sir, — years ago — I had the honor to pay you a visit there 
with my poor brother, — Evelyn’s father, — and I have always 
spbken of it since as a perfect little paradise. Haven’t I, 
Evelyn ? ” 

“ Yes, it’s a fine place — a very fine place — but it’s been 
shut up for a long time,” said Mr. Carlyl, with a deep sigh. 
“ I have not had the courage to occupy it ; but I think 
I am stronger now that my time is so nearly come. So I 
am going back there very shortly ; but it’s too big a house 
for a lonely old man. I shall be lost there by myself, and 
so I want to take this girl with me, if you make no objec- 
tion. She seems a good sort of girl to me — sensible and 
quiet — and she’ll look after me, perhaps, and keep me com- 
pany, and make the house more cheerful. Would you be 
disposed to part with her ? ” 

Miss Rayne clasped her hands, and raised her eyes in 
gratitude. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


75 


“ Oh, Mr. Caryll, it’s what I have prayed for ! I’ve 
nearly broken my heart seeing you lavish all your favors 
upon that worthless Will Caryll, whilst you didn’t seem to 
have a thought for your own sister’s child. And she’s a 
good girl, too, though/ say it ; she'll never requite you 
with ingratitude. I’ve brought her up since she was eight 
years old, and know every bit of her. And I feel proud, 
sir, that you should have thought of her name. Evelyn, 
my dear, why don’t you thank your good uncle for his 
generous offer ? ” 

But Evelyn was standing before them, dazed and be- 
wildered. She had hardly understood Mr. Caryll’s mean- 
ing, until her aunt replied to it. But now the truth sud- 
denly flashed upon her. She was to leave the little 
house — dirty and dingy, but which had been her home for 
nine long years, and held all the sweet memories of her 
first love and her first grief, and her kind, fidgety aunt, 
who had never really been harsh or unjust to her, and her 
mother’s grave, and the town where she had hoped to live 
till Will returned to her — and to go to a strange place, 
amongst strange people, with this gruff old. uncle, of whom 
she knew nothing, except that he was Will’s enemy — and 
live in a house where Will would never dare to come for 
shelter or relief. Oh, no, no ! she could not do it. 

That was her first impression, and she fell weeping on 
her aunt’s neck and told her so. 

“ Auntie, I don’t want to leave you. Let me stay here. 
Don’t send me away from home.” 

Miss Rayne was horrified in her turn. She saw all Mr. 
Caryll’s good intentions melting into thin air beneath this 
ungrateful rejoinder, and Evelyn left on her hands for 
ever. 

“ Evelyn, I’m ashamed of you ! What will your uncle 
think of such rudeness ? Home, indeed ! What home 
could you find like Mount Eden ? And every comfort and 
luxury into the bargain. Well, I never ! I believe you’re 
going to turn out as badly as your cousin, and ingratitude 
must run in the blood.” 

“ Oh, aunt, I am not ungrateful ! Please, sir, turning 
to her uncle, “ don’t think so ; but I have lived with auntie 
since I was a little child. She has been like a second 
mother to me, and if I leave her now, who will help her 
with the housekeeping and the lodgers, and look after her 
when she grows old and feeble ? ” 


7 6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


At this appeal Miss Rayne broke down herself, and even 
Mr. Caryll appeared moved. 

“ Oh, my dear, my dear,” cried the former, throwing 
herself into a chair and rocking backwards and forwards, 
“ you’ve been a comfort and a help to me, there’s no deny- 
ing it, and I shall miss you terribly. But it’s for your 
good, Evelyn — it’s for your good ! I might go any day, 
and I’ve nothing to leave behind me except these few old 
sticks, and you’re too young, by a score of years, to keep 
a house like this by yourself. So, though I shall feel the 
separation, especially at first, I shall be glad and happy to 
think you’re provided for, and I’ve no one but myself to 
think of.” 

Evelyn looked up, mystified, through her tears. 

“ Do you mean you will really be happier without me, 
auntie ? ” she said, in a voice of pain. 

“Well, no, my dear — not exactly that perhaps — but 
more comfortable and easy with regard to the future. And 
you needn’t fret about the extra work, Evelyn, because if 
you go to live with your uncle, I shall be able to keep a 
second servant, you know, and save myself from every- 
thing but the housekeeping. And then, when you come 
to see me, once in a way, you will find I have all the more 
time to attend to you, and hear what you may have to 
say.” 

Evelyn stood by the table, silent and thoughtful. She 
saw plainly now that her place would be preferable to her 
company. 

“ Well, what do you say ? ” inquired her uncle presently. 
“ Is it to be or not to be ? I don’t want to take you to 
Mount Eden against your will, but I think you will find it 
is to your advantage. You don’t look strong, and the 
country air will do you good. Do you love the country ? ” 

“ Oh, dearly,” exclaimed the girl, brightening up ; “ but 
I have never seen it since my mother died. I love the 
flowers, and the trees, and the birds — and everything. I 
only wanted to stay in Liverpool because it is my home.” 

“But it should never have been your home, Evelyn 
Rayne ; and it isn’t a fit home for you,” interrupted her 
aunt ; “ nor have I been able, with my poverty, to give 
you proper advantages, but Mr. Caryll will understand 
that, and excuse it.” 

“Certainly, Miss Rayne. I have been called a hard 


MOUNT EDEN. 


77 


man, I know, and perhaps I deserve it ( for the circum- 
stances of my life have been enough to harden 'me ), but 
no one has ever said I am injust. If Evelyn decides to 
come with me — ” 

“ Oh, sir, it is decided,” interrupted Miss Rayne. “ I 
wouldn’t let her refuse such a noble offer for all the 
world ! ” 

“ Nevertheless, she is old enough to know her own mind, 
and I will not take her away against her will ; but should 
she decide to live with me, I am prepared to make it worth 
her while. I will engage myself to give her the advantages 
of finishing her education, and to provide for her main- 
tenance after my death. In return, I ask for her compa- 
nionship — that is all. If more follows, it must come spon- 
taneously. I have outlived all my natural affections, and 
know that love can neither be purchased nor cajoled. But 
I don’t think, from what I have seen of my niece, that she 
will refuse me her duty.” 

“ Oh, she will love you, sir, dearly,” exclaimed Miss 
Rayne, with ready assurance. 

But Evelyn was silent. 

“ Evelyn is not so sure of it,” remarked Mr. Caryll 
grimly. 

The girl raised her soft eyes, dim with crying, to his 
face. 

11 1 don’t feel as if I was sure of anything, uncle,” she 
said simply ; “ it is all such a wonderful surprise to me. 
But I am grateful for your kindness, — indeed I am, — and 
I will go to Mount Eden with you if you wish me to do 
so.” 

“I wish it all the more because you say so little,” 
replied Mr. Caryll ; “ I have lived long enough to lose all 
faith in protestations. And if you will try to be happy, 
my dear, I will try to make you so. Now, the weather is 
getting very warm, and I am feeling it, and am anxious to 
be off, so I think of leaving Liverpool in about a week. I 
suppose you haven’t many preparations to make ? ” 

“ Oh, sir, the poor child has next to nothing to pack up. 
She has never been fed nor clothed as befits one of your 
family, but it is not my fault. With such a limited in- 
come — ” 

“ I understand that, madam,” replied Mr. Caryll, 
rather impatiently ; “ and, of course, from this day all such 


7 « 


MOUNT EDEN. 


responsibility will fall to my share. Be kind enough to 
get what Evelyn may require for her immediate 1156 /’ he 
continued, putting a small packet into her hand, “ and let 
her be ready to accompany me to Mount Eden to-morrow 
week. When she has been there a month or two she shall 
write and tell you how she likes it. And if it doesn't turn 
out according to her expectations, we’ll think of some 
other plan for her. But if she loves a country life, I think 
she will find plenty of things to interest her there.’’ 

“ I am sure she will,” reiterated Aunt Maria. 

Mr. Caryll rose with some difficulty from his chair, and 
prepared to leave them. 

“ I’m getting very stiff and old,” he said, “and I think 
it is about time I left off work. Well, Evelyn, my dear, 
will you give me a kiss, and tell me you are not afraid of 
me ? ” 

“ Oh, no, uncle, I am not afraid of you, — not a bit, — and I 
hope that I may be of use to you.” 

“ Be a comfort to me, my dear — that’s what I want 
most of all — a little comfort ,” said Mr. Caryll sighing. 
“ Well, good evening, Miss Rayne, and let her be ready 
by the appointed time. I will write you particulars concern- 
ing the time of starting.” 

And with these words he hobbled away. As soon as the 
door had closed after him, Miss Rayne examined the packet 
he had left with her. 

“ Oh, my dear,” she cried, “ it’s twenty pounds ! Twenty 
whole pounds to buy you frocks, and boots, and hats to go 
down to Mount Eden in ! How very, very generous. 
Why, you’ll look like a queen. Evelyn, I wish I could see 
you appreciate your good luck.” 

“ I do appreciate it, auntie, in a measure, but it is too 
new and sudden. I cannot reconcile myself to the idea 
yet. Y es, he is generous, certainly, but so are you. Twenty 
pounds is not so much to Uncle Roger as twenty shillings 
would be to you. And yet you have kept me for nine long 
years. Oh, auntie, I cannot forget all in a minute how 
good you have been to me.” 

And Evelyn’s grateful tears overflowed again. 

“ Well, my dear, you’ve repaid me over and over ; and 
it’s been a pleasure as well as a duty, so say no more about 
it. My poor brother wouldn’t have rested in his grave if I 
hadn’t promised him to look after his little daughter. But 


MOUNT EDEN. 


79 


this is such a grand opening for you, Evelyn. If it tore 
my heart in pieces to part with you, I couldn’t reconcile it 
with my conscience to keep you here. Why, your uncle 
may leave you Mount Eden and all his fortune. Why not ? 
There’s no one to stand between you, and he seems to have 
taken quite a fancy to you. And if it ever comes to pass, 
you won’t forget your old auntie, I know.” 

“ Never ! never !” cried Evelyn, clinging to her. 

“ Well, that’ll be better for me, you see, than ending 
my days here. So you must try and look on it in that 
light, and think of the good you may be able to do to 
others as well as yourself ; and you’ll soon see it is your 
duty to do all you can to please and satisfy your uncle.” 

She did think of it. Her thoughts flew forward to the 
time when Will might return to England, homeless and 
penniless, and it might be her pride and pleasure to be 
able to say to him, “ Come and share all my good things 
with me.” Indeed, the maintenance which Mr. Caryll 
had promised to provide for her might prove the best and 
only means to bring her and her absent cousin together 
again. 

This prospect, together with the beautiful elasticity of a 
youthful temperament, and the curiosity which she could 
not help feeling with respect to her new life, soon dried 
Evelyn’s tears, and when the day arrived for her to go with 
Mr. Caryll, her farewell greeting to her Aunt Maria, though 
full of warm affection, had no ring of despair in it. 


CHAPTER IX. 

A LITTLE COMFORTER. 

Miss Rayne had not exaggerated when she called Mount 
Eden a little paradise. Evelyn’s first view of it made her 
hold her breath with surprise. She had endured a long 
and dusty journey down from Liverpool to St. Mary Ottery, 
which even the luxury of a first-class carriage, and the pile 
of illustrated newspapers which Mr. Caryll had bought to 
beguile the way, had had little power to mitigate the fatigue 
and inconvenience of. It was far better when they reached 
the nearest station to Mount Eden, and found a handsome 


8o 


MOUNT EDEN. 


barouche and pair of horses waiting for them. The cool 
and balmy air of an August evening in the country soon 
cooled Evelyn’s feverish cheeks, and awakened her interest 
in the scenes around her. Mr. Caryll had told her nothing 
of what she might expect to see. He had been very silent 
all the journey, and she had been too timid to address him 
without being spoken to, or to rouse him from his semi- 
sleepy condition. But now she could hardly keep her 
pleasurable feelings to herself. 

The road to Mount Eden lay through country lanes, 
enclosed on either side by hedges that flowered with the 
wild rose, and the bramble blossom, and the bind-weed. 
The pasture-lands were ankle deep in rich grass, on which 
dappled cows, and sheep, and young horses were luxuriat- 
ing. Every now and then a laborer going heme from work 
would pass the carriage with a respectful bow, and over 
the gates of the cottage gardens, gay with marigolds, and 
scarlet-runners, and holly-hocks, hung the little white- 
haired, sunburnt children, and shouted as they drove 
swiftly past. Evelyn’s heart began to swell with various 
emotions. The pleasure of the present mingled with the 
indelible memory of the past, till she hardly knew whether 
she should laugh or cry, and she wished her uncle would 
speak to her, and turn her thoughts into another direction. 
At last the carriage made a bold sweep, and turned into 
the park-gates of Mount Eden. The lodge-keeper had 
heard the wheels long before they were in sight, and was 
holding open the gates in readiness for their entrance, 
making profound curtsies the while, that were never noticed 
Then it was that Evelyn’s breath seemed to stop with her 
surprise, and that she gasped with astonishment at what 
she saw. The park of Mount Eden was old, although the 
house was comparatively new, for Mr. Caryll had purchased 
the ground from a noble family, whose ancestral mansion 
had been destroyed by fire. The ancient trees were in 
their fullest glory. Oaks, chesnuts, beeches, elms, and 
poplars vied with each other to form a leafy shelter that 
could not be surpassed, whilst from the tall ferns that grew 
about their roots, the spotted deer (startled by the unusual 
sound of wheels) rose up, and stared with their innocent, 
-wondering eyes for a moment, before they leapt over all 
intervening obstacles, and fled to a more secluded shelter. 
The blue speedwell, and scarlet pimpernel, and flowering 


MOUNT EDEN. 


Si 

grass fringed the way, whilst here and there a blossoming 
shrub made a spot of brightness amidst the pleasant 
gloom. 

“ Uncle ! uncle ! ” cried Evelyn, forgetting her shyness in 
the delightful scene around her ; “ look at the little rabbits 
— three — four of them — jumping out of that yellow gorse 
— and oh ! what a beautiful bird ! Whatever is it? ” she 
continued, as a cock pheasant rose with a loud “ whirr,” 
and displayed his glistening plumage of gold, and red, and 
brown. 

She turned towards Mr. Caryll as she spoke, laying her 
hand upon his arm ; but his head had sunk upon his breast, 
and his face was almost, hidden from view. Recollection 
was too much for him. The sight of Mount Eden, with 
the familiar paths, through which he had wandered with 
his dead wife and his poor drowned boy, was cutting his 
seared heart like a knife. At that moment he doubted 
the wisdom of ever having returned to the place. Evelyn 
was alarmed. She feared he must be ill. 

“ Are you not well, uncle ? ” she asked : “ does your head 
ache? ” 

“ Not my head, child — my heart. But there, I must 
shake it off. I have no right to bring you here to share 
my melancholy. Yes, it is a lovely place, Evelyn, and 
you will be able to rove through it as you choose. Nothing 
can harm you here. You will have plenty of room to play 
in, and companions too. I mustn’t cloud your young life 
because mine is gloomy.” 

“ But, uncle,” said Eve timidly, “ I have come to be your 
companion. If I may walk with you and wait on you I 
shall not be dull. And I am too old to play ,” she con- 
tinued, drawing herself up ; “I was seventeen last birth- 
day.” 

“ Seventeen, he repeated sadly, gazing at her. “ Seven- 
teen ? Yes, that is a great and responsible age, and I was 
wrong to speak about playing. But how about the educa- 
tion, Evelyn ? We mustn’t neglect that.” 

“ I am afraid I am very ignorant, uncle, and have a lot 
to learn. I know nothing about French or music. I can 
sew, and cook, and clean, but auntie thought if I could do 
that, and read, and write, and cast up accounts, it would 
be enough for me. She never thought I should come to 
live at Mount Eden.” 


82 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Never mind, my dear,” replied Mr. Caryll kindly. 
“You know the most useful things, after all, and the rest 
is easily managed. But here is the big house, as they call 
it about here. How do you like the look of your new 
home, Evelyn ? ” 

“ Oh, uncle, it is beautiful — magnificent ! I never saw 
any house like it in my life before. And did you build it 
all yourself? ” 

“ Yes ; I built it myself/’ replied Mr. Caryll, with a 
heavy sigh. 

How well he remembered what his wife — the love of his 
life — had said when she first saw the completed mansion, 
and what plans for future happiness within its walls they 
had laid together. And now his Marian was sleeping in the 
churchyard of St Mary Ottery, and his son — the pride of 
his old age — was food for the fishes in the Brazilian seas. 
Oh, it was hard — bitterly hard — to have been made the 
sport of fate in such a remorseless manner. As he stepped 
from his carriage to enter the hall, where the servants, 
headed by Mrs. Wedderburn, the housekeeper, were wait- 
ing to receive him, Evelyn thought he looked much older 
and more decrepid than he had done in Liverpool, but 
that might have been only the effects of the long journey. 

“ Mrs. Wedderburn,” he said, as the housekeeper 
advanced to assist him, “ this is my niece, Miss Evelyn 
Rayne — my poor sister’s daughter, you may remember, — 
who will live with me for the future at Mount Eden. I 
seem to have forgotten the names and situations of the 
rooms here — my mind is a little hazy on that point ; but 
you’ll see that Miss Rayne has a nice one, and every atten- 
tion, till I can arrange matters.” 

“ Certainly, Mr. Caryll ; and for yourself, you would 
prefer, perhaps, not to occupy the old suite ? ” 

“Yes, yes, yes. Where else should I go? Where else 
should I go ? ” he reiterated, in a dazed and uncertain 
manner. 

After which, Evelyn was scarcely surprised to hear that 
her uncle did not feel well enough to come downstairs 
again that evening, but would take some refreshment in his 
own room. 

“Poor dear gentleman,” quoth Mrs. Wedderburn, as she 
hovered about Evelyn’s supper-table, and piled dainties on 
her plate, “ he must feel coming back to this place terrible 


MOUNT EDEN. 


83 


— so happy as they was here, he and the mistress, and so 
doting on their little son. It’s hard for him to be left 
alone after all.” 

Poor uncle,” acquiesced Evelyn compassionately. “ Yes, 
it must be a sad home-coming for him. And did you 
know my aunt and my Cousin Hugh, Mrs. Wedderburn ? ” 

“ To be sure, my dear. I came to the big house when 
it was first built, and saw your poor dear aunt carried out 
of it. But I left soon after that to be married to Mr. 
Wedderburn, and didn’t return here till the house was 
empty, so I hadn’t seen Master Hugh since he was a baby. 
But when they told me as he had been drownded, I cried 
like a child myself. Such a bonnie little lad as he was. 
You put me powerfully in mind of him, Miss.” 

“So uncle’s servant, Barnes, says. I suppose that is 
why uncle took a fancy to me. I never expected to come 
to live at Mount Eden.” 

“ Well, it’s a surprise to me , too, Miss ; though who has 
more right to be remembered by him than his own sister’s 
child ? But we heard down here as Mr. Caryll had adopted 
Mr. Edward’s boy instead of Master Hugh, and meant to 
leave him all his money, same as if he had been his son. 
Did you know him, Miss ? and is the young gentleman 
. likely to be here as well ? ” 

Evelyn blushed and stammered, but was loyal to her 
absent lover. 

“ Yes, of course, I know him. He is my first cousin, you 
know, Mrs. Wedderburn, but I am sorry to say that uncle 
and he have had a misunderstanding.” 

“ Lor ! that’s a pity, now ; and with a place like Mount 
Eden weighing in the balance. I hope it’s nothing serious, 
for Mr. Caryll’s a man of his word. But these boys will 
be headstrong and mischievous at times, and I daresay it 
will soon blow over.” 

Evelyn was silent. 

Is the young gentleman at Liverpool, Miss ? ” said the 
housekeeper inquisitively. 

“ No, Mrs. Wedderburn, he has left, and I don’t know 
where he may be at present. And I don’t think Uncle 
Roger would like it talked about, because he never men- 
tions the subject himself.” 

“ Ah, well ! if some lose, others will win,” replied Wedder- 
burn oracularly ; “ and there’s no doubt that the more one 


8 4 


MOUNT EDEN 


looks at you, the more you remind one of poor Master 
Hugh. So I hope you’ll be a comfort to the master, Miss, 
for the poor gentleman needs it.” 

But from that day, though Evelyn’s life was full of ease 
and luxury, it was very dull. At first she thought she 
could never be tired of roaming over the beautiful 
Hampshire hills, and through the rich pasture lands 
and water meadows, or sitting, lost in the recesses of 
the park, listening to the sounds, and inhaling the scents 
by which she was surrounded. But after a while she be- 
came so accustomed to the monotony of her new life, that 
she began to miss the variety of the old one. Cooking 
dinners, and running messages, and mending clothes may 
not be interesting, but it is more suitable employment for 
a gregarious animal than solitary brooding. And Mr. 
Caryll shut himself up almost entirely in his own room. 
The return to the scene of all his joys and disappointments 
had brought memory back in such a flood upon his mind 
as almost to overwhelm him, and he found himself quite 
unequal to the task which he had set himself to do. It is 
true that he appeared at meals, but he was generally 
absorbed and melancholy during their progression, and 
sought solitude as soon as they were over. The active 
work of looking after his mercantile interests had kept up 
his health and spirits far more than he had given it credit 
for, and with its cessation they both seemed to fail. A 
month after he returned to Mount Eden, he looked ten 
years older than he had done before, and had almost lost 
the power of locomotion. He did not, however, forget his 
duty to Evelyn Rayne. He engaged an admirable resident 
governess to finish her education, and gave her every other 
advantage which money could procure. But the girl began 
to sicken in an atmosphere so artificial to her. She loved 
the country, but she hated her own company, and looked 
back with longing to the days when Aunt Maria had scolded 
her for burning the toast, or staying too long at market. 
Her governess was amiable and accomplished, and her 
hours of study were a real pleasure ; but when they were 
over, Miss Middleton considered the rest of the day her 
own, and Evelyn was left to amuse herself. And with 
solitude came back the remembrance of Will, and she 
wandered about the grounds, wondering where he was, and 
why she did not hear from hipi, and how long it would be 
before they met again. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


S5 

One day these thoughts had so overcome her, and the 
idea that Will and she were parted for all their lives bore 
in so forcibly upon her mind, that the poor child could find 
no relief except in tears. She had wandered to a part of 
the park which was called “ The Fairy Dell,” on account 
of the way in which the trees were interlaced above it, and 
the lovely carpet of moss and ferns that was spread beneath 
them. There was a tiny stream of water, too, fringed with 
forget-me-nots, that ran through the “ fairy dell,” and a 
break in the clasping branches overhead, that let in the 
streaks of sunshine to prevent its looking gloomy. Evelyn 
had singled this out as her favorite spot from the first 
moment she had seen it, and generally sought it as soon as 
she found herself alone. But to-day she could not see its 
beauties. Mr. Caryll had made some remark at breakfast- 
time about the impossibility of her truant cousin ever seeing 
England again, and the truth had pierced into her heart. 
She had been careless and inattentive to her lessons, and 
Miss Middleton had rebuked her sharply. So everything 
had gone wrong that morning, and poor Evelyn was long- 
ing for the dust and the grime of Liverpool, and the days 
when she had had Will’s socks to darn, and shirts to mend, 
and had looked forward to a future spent in work for him. 
She was grateful to her uncle, and she respected her 
governess, but she could not love either of them as she had 
loved her fussy but good-natured Aunt Maria, nor her 
darling Will. So, when she reached the fairy dell, her tears 
began to flow freely, until she lost all restraint over herself, 
and sobbed aloud, with her face buried in her hands. 

“ Why do you cry ? ” demanded a child’s voice close to 
her ear. 

Evelyn looked up in amazement. 

In the fairy dell, with her hands full of blue forget-me- 
nots, stood the loveliest little girl she had ever seen. In 
age between six and seven years old, her flaxen hair curled 
like spun silk about her face and shoulders, and her large 
blue eyes, shaded by dark lashes, looked out at Evelyn 
wistfully from a complexion of milk and roses. Her dress 
showed that she belonged to a high station in life, though 
the Valenciennes lace and silk ribbons had suffered sadly 
from contact with the long grass and low bushes of the 
park. But Evelyn saw nothing but the face — the charming, 
cherub-like face — that beamed on her like that of a little 
angel. 


S6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Oh, you darling ! ” she exclaimed. “ Where did you 
come from ? What is your name ? ” 

“ I’m Aggie, and I’ve run away,” reDlied the little one, 
with infantine glee. 

Evelyn forgot her own troubles at once. From the mo- 
ment she first saw little Agnes she conceived an affection 
for her. 

“But where have you run from, my darling? ” she said, 
holding out her arms. “ Come nearer — don’t be afraid of 
me — and tell me where you live.” 

“ I’m not afraid,” replied the child, boldly drawing close 
to her new friend, and gazing up into her face. “ I’m 
Aggie, and I live over there,” waving her hand in a vague 
manner about her head. “ But you mustn’t cry ; it’s 
naughty. I’ll kiss it all away.”' 

And, suiting the action to the word, the little one raised 
her rosy lips to her new friend’s tear-stained face, and 
kissed it softly. 

Evelyn Rayne was affectionate and impulsive. Her 
heart was hungering for love amidst all the luxury with 
which she was surrounded, and the child’s sympathy touched 
her deeply. She opened her arms suddenly, and clasped 
her to her bosom with an intuition that they would love 
each other. And the intuition proved to be correct. She 
soon found that the little girl was Agnes Featherstone, the 
only child of a rich banker and his wife, living at Feather- 
stone Hall, a place about a mile distant from Mount Eden. 
How she had strayed away from her nurses, and found her 
way into Mr. Caryll’s park, was never plainly made known ; 
but Evelyn, after taking her up to the big house, had the 
pleasure of restoring her to her parents, who were in terror 
at her loss, and never forgot the service rendered them ; 
and from that time scarcely a day passed that Evelyn did 
not contrive to meet her little friend. 

Mrs. Featherstone was very pleased her daughter should 
have the advantage of an older companion to look after 
and play with her, and Evelyn soon loved Agnes with a 
devotion that could scarcely have been exceeded had she 
been her own. Her heart was empty, and she filled it 
with little Agnes Featherstone. 

It is unnecessary to dwell much longer on this, the most 
uneventful portion of her life. Under the able direction 
of Miss Middleton, she greatly improved in appearance, 


MOUNT EDEN. 


87 


and manners, and accomplishments ; and two years after 
she went to live at Mount Eden, one would hardly have 
recognized her as the half-grown, half-clothed, half-educated 
girl, who had been little better than a servant in the 
house of Miss Rayne at Liverpool. But her life had been 
a very monotonous one. Her uncle had never rallied from 
the apathetic condition into which he had fallen on return- 
ing to Mount Eden, and only changed it to become a help- 
less paralytic, who was wheeled about the grounds of his 
estate more dead than alive, and apparently took no 
notice of anything around him. 

And all this time there had been no news received of 
any sort from William Caryll. From the time he had dis- 
appeared from Liverpool, he had been as one dead to all 
he had left behind him, and forgotten by all into the bar- 
gain, except the faithful heart of Evelyn Rayne. She had 
wept for his loss until the fountain of her tears was dry ; 
but still she would not believe but that he would return 
some day to claim her as his own. 

When Evelyn was nineteen, Miss Middleton left her. 
She considered her pupil’s education was finished, and 
that it was time she assumed her position as head of her 
uncle’s household. But a very few weeks after this 
change had been made, the most unexpected event of our 
heroine’s life occurred to her. 

She came down to breakfast one morning to be told by 
Mrs. Wedderburn that Mr. Caryll was no more. He had 
been found dead in his bed when his attendant went to 
rouse him. 

Evelyn received the news as any young girl would have 
done — with a terrible sense of horror and bereavement. 
She would have sent at once for her Aunt Maria to keep 
her company, but, alas ! poor Miss Rayne (who had 
looked forward to that day as one in which Evelyn would 
not forget her) had joined the great majority six months 
before, and her niece felt utterly alone. 

Then came the funeral, and the lawyers, and the will ; 
and she heard, to her amazement, that instead of a legacy, 
as she had expected, she was left (failing the return of her 
cousin Hugh) the sole inheritrix of that vast estate, with 
fifteen thousand a year to keep it up on. 

At first the poor child felt anything but elated or happy 
at her good fortune. Whilst every one was congratulat- 


88 


MOUNT EDEN. 


ing or envying her, she was wondering what she should do 
with such a responsibility upon her shoulders, or how she 
could ever make up her mind to live at Mount Eden alone. 
But once familiarized with the idea, another sprung up to 
give her courage for the task — the remembrance of the 
vow that she and Will Caryll had mutually taken on them- 
selves — that, whichever inherited Mount Eden, should 
share it with the other. From that moment the estate 
appeared to be no longer hers, but his ; and she was 
looking after its interests and increasing its value, not for 
herself, but him. 

And so she lived and acted, though without a word or 
token from the man she still believed in ; yet with full faith 
that time alone was needed to restore them to each other 
— until we meet her again. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE CAPTAIN AND VERNON. 

“ I don’t believe,” said Captain Philip, as he stretched 
himself with more pleasure than prudence on the thyme- 
scented, moss-enamelled turf ; “ I don’t believe, if you 
were to search all England — or the world itself, for that 
matter — you could find a lovelier spot than Mount Eden.” 

“I quite agree with you,” replied John Vernon, as he 
inhaled a deep draught of the fresh, exhilarating air, and 
his eye roved over an expanse of undulating hills and 
fertile pasture lands. 

It was spring. The trees had just assumed a mantle of 
tender green, and the lilacs and laburnums were in blos- 
som. The meadows were sprinkled with buttercups and 
daisies, amongst which the young lambs skipped and gam- 
bolled together until recalled by a warning cry from their 
mothers. By every hedgerow, and behind each moss- 
grown boulder, peeped infant ferns and tiny lichens, whilst 
yellow primroses, with their wide-open, innocent eyes, 
were planted in the grass like gems. 

John Vernon, fresh home from sea, stood by the cap- 
tain’s side, with his sunburnt face and curly head uncov- 
ered, looking as if he could never be satiated with the 


MOUNT EDEN. 


89 


natural beauties that surrounded him. All breathed of life 
— young, hopeful life — vigor, health, and purity, and one 
might well be forgiven for forgetting — if only for a moment 
— that such ugly things as death and dishonor cast their 
shadows over a world so fair. 

“ It is lovely,” continued Vernon presently — “ exqui- 
sitely and unmitigatedly lovely. We’ve knocked about a 
bit together, Captain Philip, and we’ve seen some grand 
scenery in India and Australia, on the Himalaya Moun- 
tains, and in the bush, but nothing to beat this. Just look 
at those uplands to the left. When the breeze ripples 
through the young blades of grass, you might fancy you 
were on the sea again. What splendid timber there is on 
the estate, too, and what rich pasturage ! I counted thirty 
cows in that field yonder.” 

“ I daresay,” rejoined the captain carelessly ; “ and 
that’s not the half of the milking herd. A good deal of 
the revenues of Mount Eden are derived from its dairy and 
farm produce. I could hardly tell you, without reference 
to my books, how many head of cattle we send up to the 
London market annually.” 

“ Such a place must be worth thousands a year.” 

“ It is worth fifteen thousand, or thereabouts.” 

“ And it all belongs to a bit of a girl ! How absurd it 
seems,” said Vernon, who considered the Salic law as a 
gross injury to the stronger sex. 

Captain Philip laughed. 

“ Your description hardly applies to Miss Rayne. In 
the first place, she is a woman who has left her girlhood 
behind her. In the second, she is a very tall and dignified 
one.” 

“ Oh, I see ! An old maid.” 

“ Hardly that either,” returned the captain drily ; 
“ Miss Rayne was twenty-seven, I believe, on her last 
birthday. But she is quite equal to managing her own 
affairs, and wields her sceptre over Mount Eden royally.” 

“ Captain Philip,” said the younger man, after a pause, 
“ will you forgive me for saying something ? This is a 
beautiful country and a charming estate. I can admire it 
as much as you do, and after knocking about at sea for 
the last three years, the rest and the change are but too 
delightful. Yet I could not endure it for always. I should 
miss the excitement and active work of our profession. 


90 


MOUNT EDEN. 


This peaceful, uneventful life would pall upon me, and I 
cannot understand your having chucked up the service so 
suddenly, to bury yourself down here. 

John Vernon was a young fellow of perhaps two-and- 
twenty, who had had but little experience of life. It did 
not, therefore, strike him as anything strange that Captain 
Philip should busy himself in filling and lighting a pipe 
before he answered his observation. 

“ My boy,” he said, when he did speak, “ I never cared 
for the service as you do. I entered it before I knew what 
I was about, or what lay before me, and I stayed in it 
because there was no other opening for me. But it was 
never a profession to my taste.” 

“ And yet you were always quoted to me as such an ex- 
cellent seaman, with a perfect knowledge of your duties,” 
replied Vernon, in a tone of disappointment. 

“ I tried to do my duty, Jack, whilst I remained in it, 
and probably, had this billet not been offered to me, I 
might have been in the merchant service to this day. But 
— but — well, I don’t mind telling you, lad, that I was 
brought up in a higher social sphere, and that the moral 
atmosphere and surroundings of a seafaring life were never 
to my taste. It is different with you, Jack. You come of 
a family of sailors, and, I daresay, your mother mixed your 
first pap with salt water. You are in your right element 
at sea, and you will go on till you reach the top of the tree. 
I shall see you, if I live, with a ship or two of your own, 
by-and-bye, whilst I am still checking the farrier’s and corn- 
chandler’s accounts for Mount Eden.” 

“ And you can prefer such work,” exclaimed Vernon, 
rather contemptuously, “ to the glorious excitement of 
riding over the waves, and the substantial benefit of 
trading with foreign countries ? Captain Philip, I cannot 
understand it. To live all alone in that little cottage, 
pretty as it may be, and spend one’s life in looking after 
somebody else’s money, is so tame and unvaried an 
existence compared to that to which we have been accus- 
tomed, that it would drive me mad.” 

“ And to me it is paradise. Therein lies the difference,” 
replied Captain Philip calmly, pulling at his pipe. “ I like 
my own company, Vernon, and I love Mount Eden. My 
pipe is sufficient society for me, as a rule, and I like to feel 
that I am directing the management of this vast estate, 
and making it yield all the profit of which it is capable. ” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


91 


“ What is your interest in it? ” demanded Vernon curtly. 

His companion started. 

“ My interest ! Why, that of land-agent and overseer, 
to be sure. What other interest could I have ? I am Miss 
Rayne’s servant, but I am also her right hand and confi- 
dential adviser ; and I don’t think she would find it easy to 
replace me. I have the same interest in Mount Eden that 



“ But you knew this part of Hampshire before you came 
to Mount Eden, captain ? ” 

“ Who told you so ? ” 

“ I guessed it from your evident familiarity with every- 
thing about you. One does not gain such a thorough 
knowledge of the soil and the idiosyncrasies of the people 
in a twelvemonth.” 

“Well, I was in the county as a boy — in fact, I was 
born in Hampshire,” said Captain Philip, somewhat 
reluctantly ; “ but that fact could have no power to keep 
me in my present position, for I left it too early to have 
obtained any serviceable knowledge. And I have no 
friends living here now — none whatever.” 

“You have such a snug berth, and you seem so deter- 
mined to keep it, captain,” said the younger man laughing, 
“ that I expect you have some fair lady in your mind’s eye, 
and we shall hear of a wedding at Mount Eden before 
we’re back in port again.” 

Captain Philip colored ruddily through his bronzed 
skin ; he had not yet lost the capacity to blush. Although 
he had held the rank of captain in the merchant service 
during two voyages, he was not more than five-and-thirty, 
and it would have been difficult to find a better-looking 
bridegroom for any girl about Mount Eden. 

Tall and muscular, with a face from which the sunburn 
of exposure was but partially removed, and a brown beard, 
close and crisp, that lay upon his chest, Captain Philip 
was a fine specimen of a powerful and well-built English- 
man. His nose was a trifle heavy, perhaps, and his mouth, 
from, the luxuriance of his moustaches, was an unknown 
feature, but he had a pair of honest, kind, grey eyes, that 
would have redeemed a far plainer physiognomy. It was 
sheer kindness that had made him ask this young fellow 
Vernon down to spend his time on shore in Hampshire. 


92 


MOUNT EDEN. 


He had been one of his apprentices during the last two 
voyages he had made, and Captain Philip knew that the 
lad was an orphan, and had no home to go to during his 
brief holiday. 

But he hardly thought that he would have brought him 
so sternly to book for having become Miss Rayne’s land- 
agent ; a captain on board ship and a captain on shore are 
two such very different things. 

“ Let us stroll towards the stables, Jack,” he said, as he 
rose to his feet, more with a view to changing the conver- 
sation than any other motive. “ I have a word to say to 
the coachman about his corn bill. It takes a man’s whole 
time to prevent these servants cheating. Their moral 
obliquity is remarkable. There are some articles, to 
annex which you can no more convince them is robbery 
than that they have no right to the warmth of the sun ; 
and others, again, they would not touch if their lives 
depended on it.” 

“ Does Miss Rayne keep many horses?” demanded 
Vernon. 

“ Thirty, or so, with the farm horses. She could do 
with less ; but she is very generous, as well as kind- 
hearted, and she is devoted to her animals. She would 
no more overwork ahorse than she would a fellow-creature. 
And she is very decided into the bargain. It is of no use 
remonstrating with her against what she considers right. 
She will have her own way.” 

“ Well, she has nothing apparently to spend her money 
on except her whims. It does seem so strange to me, a 
woman having such a fortune under her control. It doesn’t 
seem right at all. How did she come by it ? ” 

“ In the usual way. She inherited under her late uncle’s 
will.” 

“ But was there no man to take it? Has she no rela- 
tives ? ” 

“ Not in her generation — at least so I’ve heard — or none 
at all events whom her uncle, Mr. Caryll, considered so 
worthy to inherit his property. He was a rich merchant, 
and she was his sister’s only child. She was mistress of 
Mount Eden before she came of age.” 

“ But why hasn’t she married?” asked Vernon eagerly. 

“ I don’t know,” replied Captain Philip laconically. 

“ Isn’t she engaged to be married ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN 


93 


“ I don’t know,” repeated the captain. 

“ How strange. I should have thought the fellows 
would have jumped at her, with all that money. Is she 
handsome ? ” 

“ You might not call her so, Jack.” 

“ What, with fifteen thousand a year ! Why, / should 
think her handsome if she were as black as those African 
women who used to come aboard to sell us porcupine 
quills and ostrich eggs off the Gold Coast. But, seriously, 
Captain Philip, what is she like ? ” 

“ She is tall and fair, and I believe she is considered 
good-looking. She has very pleasant manners, but she is 
grave and serious for so young a woman. Sometimes I 
thing she worries herself too much about the estate, and 
feels her responsibilities too deeply.” 

“ Oh, she’ll be all right when she’s married,” exclaimed 
Vernon, to whom, as to most very young people, marriage 
appeared a panacea for every trouble. “ What she wants 
is a man to take all the responsibility off her hands, and 
leave her nothing to do but to enjoy herself. A woman’s 
mind is not equal to such a strain. The funny part of it is, 
that she’s not been hooked long ago. What a berth it 
would be to fall into,” he concluded, with his eyes raised 
heavenwards. 

Captain Philip turned upon his young friend unneces- 
sarily sharply. 

“Well, it won’t be your chance to fall into it, my boy, 
so you needn’t take the trouble to look so ecstatic. 
Should Miss Rayne ever marry, which I think sometimes 
she is far too sensible to do, she will probably ally her wealth 
with the aristocracy. But she’s wedded to Mount Eden, 
at least for the present.” 

“ Does she live alone ? ” 

“ Quite alone, except for her servants, and that cir- 
cumstance prohibits her receiving any guests at Mount 
Eden, except an occasional lady friend, and she doesn’t 
care much for them. Little Miss Featherstone and she 
have the house pretty well to themselves.” 

“ And who is Miss Featherstone ? ” 

“ The only daughter and heiress of Mr. Andrew Feather- 
stone, the banker, who lives in that big house over the hill 
— Featherstone Hall, they call it. Miss Featherstone is 
only seventeen, and Miss Rayne has made a pet of her for 


94 


MOUNT EDEN, 


the last ten years. In fact, I don’t think there’s anybody 
in the world that she cares so much for as for Agnes 
Featherstone. They are like sisters ; and when she is at 
home, Miss Agnes lives as much at Mount Eden as at the 
Hall. But the family have spent this winter in Italy, and 
sometimes I fancy Miss Rayne has felt the separation 
more than she will acknowledge. By Jove ! here she 
comes.” 

They had been strolling leisurely along a breezy bit of 
upland, and then through a green lane, on their way to the 
stables, and had just turned into a copse at the foot of the 
lower drive. Here the young fir trees and larches, crowned 
with dark, gummy buds, and pale-green feathery sprays, 
were beginning to put forth their delicate pink blossoms ; 
and their fallen leaves, shorn by the winter’s frost, formed 
a nice warm bed for the blue and white violets, which grew 
in profusion at their roots. Vernon looked up at the 
captain’s words, and saw a tall gracious woman advancing 
slowly to meet them, with her hands full of the fragrant 
blossoms. She was at a sufficient distance for him to be 
able to scrutinize her appearance without discourtesy, and 
his first feeling was one of surprise to remember how coldly 
Captain Philip had spoken of her charms. Evelyn Rayne 
was by this time seven-and-twenty, but her slight, graceful 
figure made her look like a girl. Her dress was remark- 
ably plain. A grey woollen gown of some coarse, home- 
spun fabric, tailor-made, but simple almost to severity, a 
broad-brimmed straw hat, with a black ribbon twisted 
round it, and a pair of tan-colored driving gloves, completed 
her costume. But Vernon never looked at what she wore. 
All he saw was a small head, crowned with a luxuriance of 
chestnut -hair, which spoke well for the physical health of 
its owner ; a broad, intellectual forehead, a mouth full of 
firmness and sweetness combined, and a pair of lovely 
dark-blue eyes, large, long, and heavy-lidded, but with a 
very searching look in their Mediterranean depths. Her 
beauty burst upon John Vernon like a revelation. He 
thought he had never seen so truly handsome a woman in 
his life before. His ideas of female loveliness hitherto had 
been associated with the Fannies, and Lucies, and Lilies 
of his boyish days, and, later on, with the Mollies, and 
Dollies, and Sukies of the docks and seaport towns ; but 
never before had he been brought in contact with so noble- 


MOUNT EDEN 


95 


looking a creature as Evelyn Rayne. Metaphysically 
speaking, he was at her feet in a moment ; and never after- 
wards, during the course of a long and eventful life, did 
John Vernon ever think of his ideal of female excellence 
without recalling the vision of the mistress of Mount Eden, 
as she advanced to meet them with bunches of blue and 
white violets in her hands 


CHAPTER XI. 

bachelor’s hall. 

“ Good-morning, Captain Philip,” she said, with a smile 
and an inclination of her head, but without offering him 
her hand ; “ I saw you coming over the three-cornered 
patch, and waited to speak to you here.” 

“ Good-morning, Miss Rayne, I hope you are -quite 
Well ? ” responded the captain ; “ I have been showing my 
young friend, Mr. Vernon, who is staying at the cottage 
for a few days, the view from Fern Hill, and he is as 
charmed with it as the rest of the world.” 

As Captain Philip indicated the presence and personality 
of John Vernon, Miss Rayne turned to him and bowed, 
but very slightly. There was evidently just that under- 
standing between her land-agent and herself that there 
should be. She was perfectly at her ease with Captain 
Philip, but she was not familiar with him. They com- 
municated freely and confidentially, but from different 
planes. She never forgot that she was the owner of Mount 
Eden, nor he that he was her servant. Each felt the 
temptation sometimes, perhaps, to approach each other on 
more equal terms, but each resisted it. Some feeling, that 
was still not repugnance, seemed to keep them apart. 
Perhaps they both remembered the old adage about fami- 
liarity breeding contempt. 

“ I am glad that Mr. Vernon admires our scenery,” said 
Evelyn, after a pause, “ and it is a day to make everything 
look its best. I wonder,” she continued, turning on her 
heel to gaze at her fair domain, “ I wonder if there is any 
country in the world where spring is more beaubful than 
\n England ? ” 


9 6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“In America,” commenced Vernon, with all the con- 
fidence of a very young man, before the other sex has 
taken to snubbing him ; “ in the Western States of America, 
Miss Rayne, the spring — ” 

Miss Rayne turned upon him suddenly, with an unmis- 
takable look of displeasure in her eyes. 

“ I know nothing of America,” she said hurriedly, as she 
buried her face in her flowers ; “ Captain Philip, I am 
afraid we shall have to dismiss Roberts after all. Wilson 
tells me he was the worse for liquor again last night.” 

“ I was on my way to the stables to inquire into it, Miss 
Rayne, and into a fresh error in his account. Just look at 
that bill,” replied Captain Philip, producing a long slip of 
paper from his waistcoat pocket. 

Miss Rayne ran her eye over it. 

“ Absurd,” she exclaimed ; “ forty bushels of oats. 
Captain Philip, it cannot be forty. It is too ridiculous ! ” 

“ It is written down forty, plain enough,” he answered, 
“ but he cannot have fairly used half the quantity. I am 
afraid there is nothing for it but dismissal. The man will 
evidently take no warning.” 

“ We must go and see about it,” said Miss Rayne 
promptly ; “ and Frodsham has come over, too, about 
Gadfly’s strain. He says there is no cure but fireing. It 
will ruin her marketable value, but anything is better than 
that the poor mare should suffer.” 

“ Why not turn her out to grass for a few months’ rest, 
and then sell her, Miss Rayne ? ” 

“ And let her pass into the hands of some one who would 
work her, ill or well, until she dropped ? No, thank you, 
Captain Philip. I don’t want that sort of advice. Gadfly 
shall go into the pensioners’ paddock first.” 

“Why, it’s crammed full already,” cried Captain Philip, 
laughing. 

At that she laughed too. 

“ Never mind, we’ll devote a second paddock to the 
dear old things, if necessary. But come to the stables now, 
and let us get this business over at once.” 

She turned quickly, and, without another glance at 
Vernon, walked by Captain Philip’s side. The captain saw 
that she expected him to accompany her alone. 

“ Go back and wait for me at the cottage, Jack,” he 
called over his shoulder to the young man, who was com- 


MOUNT EDEN. 


97 


pelled unwillingly to obey. But he stopped for some 
minutes first, gazing after the mistress of Mount Eden, and 
watching the eager, animated manner in which she was 
discussing some subject with her companion. He envied 
the luck of his quondam “ skipper/’ as he saw him walking 
so familiarly by her side, and no longer wondered that he 
should have preferred to be her land-agent to knocking 
about amongst a lot of rough fellows at sea. At the same 
time, Jack Vernon had an uncomfortable feeling in his own 
mind, and a conviction, though he could not say why, that 
in some way or other he had been unfortunate enough to 
offend Miss Rayne by mentioning America. And yet, how 
could he possibly have done so ? As he strolled back to 
Captain Philip’s cottage, he ran over every little incident 
of the past interview, in order to try and account for the 
heiress’ curt manner towards him, but he could not think 
of a single thing in which he had transgressed the rules of 
good breeding ; unless, indeed, unknown to himself, his 
undoubted’admiration of her had been too apparent in his 
eyes. But women are not used, as a rule, to take offence 
at silent admiration from the other sex, however unmis- 
takably displayed. 

A few minutes’ walk brought him to his friend’s cottage* 
which Miss Rayne had playfully nicknamed “ Bachelor’s 
Hall.’’ 

Captain Philip might have occupied a suite of rooms up 
at the big house if he had willed it. His predecessor had 
done so, and lived on the fat of the land ; and had the free 
use of the servants, and carriages, and horses, as he chose 
to order them. But Captain Philip had been too long at 
sea, he said, to care to live in a crowd. He picked out an 
empty cottage on the estate, which had been occupied by 
a gamekeeper; and asked leave to inhabit it instead ; and 
Evelyn had first laughingly remonstrated with him for 
making himself uncomfortable, and then called him a re- 
cluse, and given him leave to do exactly as he chose. And 
what he chose was to live there quite alone. He would 
not even have a servant to sleep in the house. One of the 
women from the farm came in each morning to set his rooms 
to rights, and cook his dinner, after which she disappeared, 
and left Captain Philip to wait on himself for the remainder 
of the day. He preferred it — so he told John Vernon. 
What did he want with a servant twiddling her thumbs in 

4 


9 8 


MOUNT EDEN. 


the kitchen for half her time. He liked to feel that he 
was master in his own house. There was not much to be 
master of. Four small rooms constituted the extent of 
Bachelor’s Hall, but they were very comfortable. Miss 
Rayne had furnished them with good, substantial beds, and 
chairs, and tables from the big house, and Captain Philip 
had decorated them with the curiosities he had collected 
during his wanderings. The little sitting-room was an 
illustrated diary of his voyages. Barbaric weapons and 
wild animals’ skins were mingled with rare shells, and eggs, 
and feathers, and gleaming bits of ore, until it looked like 
a museum. On one side of the fireplace stood the captain’s 
writing-table, which shut with a circular cover when notin 
use, and locked away his business papers from curious eyes ; 
and in the other, a wide arm-chair in which he was accus- 
tomed to sit when work was over, and commune with his 
pipe. This habit of thinking and smoking had grown upon 
Captain Philip whilst at sea. He had been noted there 
for his silent and reflective disposition; and some people 
had gone so far as to say it was not altogether natural to 
him, but that some cloud hung over the captain’s past, 
which he would not even think of in any company but that 
of his pipe. 

“ He was always a strange fellow,” thought Jack Vernon, 
as he gazed round at the orderly adornment of the little 
room. “ Who, to look at the arrangement of these trifles, 
would imagine it had been done by a man who has been 
used, for the best part of his life, to occupy a cabin, six 
feet by six, decorated by a sea-chest and a swinging tray ? 
Flowers, feathers and photographs. One might fancy it 
was the work of a woman’s hand. It’s a sweet little 
place,” he continued, as he turned towards the open case- 
ment, and a hanging branch of flowering clematis brushed 
across his face ; “ a perfect romance in the shape of a cot- 
tage, but what on earth made the skipper settle himself 
down here ? That’s the puzzle to me. How can he stand 
the quiet and monotony? There’s only one solution to it. 
He’s in love with Miss Rayne. Well, I don’t wonder at 
that.” 

Feeling satisfied with the conclusion at which he had 
arrived, without taking into consideration the fact that 
Captain Philip had probably accepted his present situa- 
tion withou* ^ver having seen Miss Rayne, Jack Vernon 


MOUNT EDEN 


99 


threw himself into the arm chair, and began to think it 
must be dinner-time. 

The cloth was spread upon the table. A large ham, in 
cut, a few fresh crisp lettuces, and a Stilton cheese stood 
on it ; and when the captain returned, a dish of new pota- 
toes would complete the frugal meal. He had warned 
Vernon what he had to expect in visiting Bachelor’s Hall. 
He had retained all the simple habits of seafaring life. A 
heavy meal revolted instead of stimulating his appetite, 
and he lived almost as sparingly as a hermit. But there 
was nothing hermit-like in the manner in which, half-an- 
hour later, the captain entered the cottage. His handsome 
face was smiling joyfully, and he flung his soft felt hat down 
on the floor like an impetuous boy. 

“ No more work to-day, Jack ! ” he exclaimed, “ and as 
soon as we’ve swallowed our dinner we’ll ride over to 
Leighton and see the retrievers I was talking to you about 
this morning. I suppose you can manage to stick on a 
horse, and I have always the privilege of mounting a friend 
from the Mount Eden stables.” 

“ But what’s in the wind now, captain ? ” inquired the 
younger man, as they drew their chairs up to the table and 
commenced to attack the ham ; “ I thought you said this 
afternoon was to see the foundation laid of a new decoy ? ” 

“ So it was arranged, my boy ; but everything’s altered 
now. ‘ Femvie souvent varied • Ob, I forgot, you don’t 
understand the lingo, but the English of it is that Miss 
Rayne has received news that has put everything else out 
of her head. The Featherstones have returned to the 
Hall.” 

“ And is that circumstance of sufficient importance to 
upset all her plans ? ” 

“ My dear fellow, you don’t understand the attachment 
that exists between Miss Rayne and Miss Featherstone, 
or you wouldn’t ask such a question. I never saw two 
people so fond of one another in my life before ! They are 
simply inseparable, or rather they have been until this 
winter. But Mrs. Featherstone took it suddenly into her 
head that her daughter’s education could not be completed 
without visiting Paris and Rome, and so they left England 
six months ago, and Miss Rayne has not been the same 
creature without them.” 

“ I wonder she did liot go too.” 


IOO 


MOUNT EDEN 


“ How could she ? She has her estate to look after/' 
rejoined the captain quickly. 

“ She could leave it safely in your hands, surely ? ” 

“ Not entirely. You don’t know how completely she 
associates herself with the management of affairs. She is 
her own bailiff and steward, and ( I was going to add ) far- 
rier, but she really knows more about doctoring the stock 
than the village veterinary. She gave a ball to a horse this 
morning that the grooms dared not approach.” 

“ I don’t like to see a woman do such unfeminine things,” 
said Vernon sententiously. 

“Don’t you?” replied Captain Philip, in his dry way; 
“at any rate, Mount Eden would get on very badly without 
Miss Rayne,” 

“ And now her fidiis achates has returned to her ? ” 

“Yes, and most unexpectedly — at least to herself. 
Miss Feathersone wishing, it seems, to give her friend a 
surprise, concealed the fact that they were on their way 
home, and the first intimation Miss Rayne received of it 
was by a note brought over by a groom to say Miss Agnes 
would be with her this afternoon. If you had only seen 
her, Jack ! In five minutes, pleasure had transformed her 
into another creature. You would hardly have recognized 
her as the serious young lady you saw this morning. She 
was dimpling all over with smiles, and as soon as the most 
pressing .work was over, she gave every one concerned a 
holiday, with leave to drink Miss Agnes’ health at her 
expense. It is pleasant to see her look so happy,” con- 
cluded Captain Philip, in a musing way. 

“ Well, it is incredible to me, one woman being so fond 
of another,” said John Vernon. “Is Miss Featherstone 
such a very fascinating young person ? ” 

“ Not at all, I should say, to an ordinary spectator. She 
is just a simple, pretty, lovable girl ; but Miss Rayne has 
known her intimately for the last ten years, and there is no 
doubt she is exceedingly fond of her. Sometimes I think,” 
said Captain Philip slowly, “ that if no one should start up 
to claim it, Miss Rayne will leave Mount Eden to Miss 
Featherstone.” 

“ Why do you say if no one should start up to claim 
it ? ” I thought the property was left to her uncondition- 
ally ? 

“So it is — to her and her heirs after her. *But should 


MOUNT EDEN 


IOI 


she not marry, or die intestate, there may be other rela- 
tives of the late Mr. Caryll to put in a legal claim to the 
property. You know how many loopholes there are in law. 
Miss Rayne has told me that her late uncle had a nephew 
by his brother, who would have inherited before herself 
had he been living, and that no certain proofs have ever 
been received of his decease.” 

“Then he may turn up any day and turn her out of 
Mount Eden?” exclaimed Vernon. 

“ Yes ; he certainly may turn up any day, but I don’t 
think he will turn Miss Rayne out of Mount Eden,” replied 
Captain Philip, after a pause. 

“ But surely she will marry,” urged his companion. “ It 
is quite unnatural to think of such a fine woman remain- 
ing single. I can’t believe she makes all this fuss for the 
sake of Miss Featherstone only. Come, now, isn’t there a 
brother, or a cousin, or some one belonging to the fair 
Agnes in the background? Your description of Miss 
Rayne’s excitement at their return home sounds so much 
more like the anticiDation of meeting a lover than a female 
friend.” 

The captain’s brow lowered. 

“ You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he an- 
swered shortly ; “ Miss Rayne is above all that sort of 
nonsense. She hasn’t got a lover, and I don’t believe she 
has ever had one. She is a female anchorite, wedded to 
her business and the management of her estate. She has 
lived at Mount Eden' since she was seventeen, and thqge 
who have been with her all the time tell me it has always 
been the same. She never entertains, except in a hospit- 
able, friendly manner, and she never has any one to stay 
in the house. As for young men — excepting when she 
gives a neighbor leave to beat the covers or to fish in the 
stream, I never see one about the place. Lover ! Non- 
sense ! Miss Rayne has much more sense than you give 
her credit for.”' 

“ All right, captain,” cried Vernon laughing, “ no offence 
meant, and I hope none taken. I didn’t undersand that 
Miss Rayne was proof against all the weaknesses of her 
charming sex. Mount Eden is rightly named. It is a 
paradise ; and she is its Eve. But a solitary unmated Eve 
is an anomaly. Adam should, by rights, have been here 
to meet her,” 


102 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Well, he isn’t here, and what’s more, we don’t want him,” 
replied the captain, as they rose from table and prepared 
for their journey to Leighton. 


CHAPTER XII. 

AT THE BIG HOUSE. 

Meanwhile Evelyn — the same Evelyn we have known, 
and yet so unlike what she was in her girlish days — was 
roaming about the big house, restless and excited, in anti- 
cipation of the promised meeting with Agnes Featherstone. 
It was not an ordinary affection which she felt for this 
young girl. One could see that by the trembling eagerness 
with which she changed her dress in anticipation of the 
arrival of her friend ; by the nervous fingers that arranged 
and re-arranged the ornaments about her sitting-room, and 
the repeated journeys she made backwards and forwards 
to the window to see if there were any signs of Agnes’ 
approach. 

How this love which had made all the happiness of 
Evelyn’s later years had sprung up from a frail seedling to 
a tree, whose sturdy growth could resist the shock of any 
earthly storm, was best known to the great Being who 
sends us the affection of our fellow-creatures to keep our 
hearts from breaking under the afflictions of the world. 
But no two women could have been more dissimilar either 
in mind or body ; perhaps in that very fact lay the secret 
of the tie between them. Evelyn, tall, womanly, and com- 
manding, moving like a queen amongst her dependants, 
and asking for neither advice nor support from any one ; 
and Agnes, a soft, loving, and somewhat simple girl, never 
sure of her own opinion, and ready to cling to the first 
hand held out to her. But it was her very childishness 
that made Agnes so dear to her friend, who felt almost like 
a mother when she held her in her arms. Evelyn had 
never forgotten the day she first saw the pouting cherub in 
the fairy dell, and scarcely realized that Agnes was much 
older now than she had been when she pressed her rosy 
baby lips against her face, in an attempt to comfort her. 
From that time the younger girl had lived between the big 


MOUNT EDEN \ 


103 


house and the Hall, and looked upon Evelyn as an elder 
sister. Indeed, it never seemed to enter either of their 
heads that they were not relations, and perhaps it had 
entered Evelyn’s (as Captain Philip had shrewdly sug- 
gested), that, in the event of her not marrying, she might 
leave Mount Eden to her little friend. But at this moment 
her mind was occupied solely by the thought of their 
reunion ; and, by the time that the carriage wheels from 
Featherstone Ilall stopped before the portico, her cheeks 
were burning, and her eyes beaming with excitement and 
suspense. Agnes did not wait to be announced, but, leaping 
from the carriage, ran straight to the morning-room, where 
she knew that . she should find her friend. As soon as the 
young women met, they flew into each other’s arms, and 
for a few minutes nothing was to be heard but the sound of 
their repeated kissing, and a few low sobs of pleasure from 
Agnes Featherstone. They separated at last, but it was 
only to fly together again with another series of embraces ; 
and then Evelyn drew Agnes gently towards a sofa, and 
sat down beside her, with her arm about her waist. The 
tears were standing on both their faces as they turned to 
look at one another. 

“And so, my darling, I have got you back again at 
last ? ” said Evelyn. “ Oh, Agnes, this separation has been 
a weary time for me. Whilst you have been dancing, and 
flirting, and going to operas and concerts, yon naughty 
puss, I have been hungering and thirsting for the sight of 
your face and the sound of your voice. I did not realize 
how very necessary you were to my happiness until we 
parted, Agnes.” 

The younger girl looked troubled, and a little perplexed. 

And do you suppose I have not felt it also, Evelyn ? 
There has not been a day that I didn’t want you, dear. 
My pleasures would have been doub f ed had you been 
there to share them with me. As it was, there always 
seemed something wanting in everything to me. Mamma 
said at last that she was quite sick of hearing me say so.” 

“ I’m afraid Mrs. Featherstone must have thought you 
didn’t appreciate all the trouble she was taking on your 
account. But she doesn’t know, even after all this time, 
how much we love each other, darling. I have had no 
pleasure to speak of, worthy the name, since you left 
England. How many times have I longed to go after you { 


104 


MOUNT EDEN . 


and if you had not seemed to be enjoying yourself so 
thoroughly without me, I might have done so. But there, 
dear, I don’t mean to reproach you. It was right and 
natural that you should enjoy new sights and places. And 
you have enjoyed yourself very much, haven’t you, 
Agnes ? ” 

“ Very much ! ” replied Miss Featherstone, with a blush 
that spread over her whole countenance. 

“ Why, what is there to blush at, you silly child ? But 
let me have a good look at you, Agnes. What a pretty 
dress ! — Paris fashions, I suppose? You’ll be turning the 
heads of all the people in church next Sunday. But your 
dear little face is just the same, my darling. Paris has 
been unable either to spoil or to improve that.” 

It was a sweet face she was gazing into — almost too 
sweet and pretty to be very intellectual or spiritual. Agnes 
Featherstone had not changed so very considerably since 
she had been a child. She still possessed the child’s com- 
plexion — clear, delicate, and with a peach-like bloom upon 
it, with large china-blue eyes, set wide apart in her white 
forehead, a piqua?it nose, with small nostrils, a pair of lips 
arched like a cupid’s bow, and a dimpled chin. A face for 
a parent to dote on, and a lover to rave about, but not a 
face to fly to for succor, counsel, or sympathy. Her 
figure was small, rounded, and rather short, and her hair, 
which retained the blonde tint of her childhood, curled 
naturally all over her head. But in Evelyn’s loving eyes, 
Agnes was perfection, both physically and mentally. 
Though usually far-seeing and perspicuous, she could 
detect no flaw in the beautiful girl whom she had made 
her pet and plaything for so many years. It would have 
been a bold person indeed who would have ventured to say 
a word against Agnes Featherstone in the presence of 
Evelyn Rayne. 

“ No ; Paris nor any other place could ever spoil you, 
my darling,” she repeated fondly ; “ and yet I hardly know 
my little Agnes in these fine feathers. I shall not be 
quite happy till I see you running about Mount Eden again 
in a brown holland dress and a straw hat, and feel you are 
all my own, as of yore. And what a lot you must have to 
tell me, dear ! What long evenings we will spend together, 
talking over all you have seen and heard during your 
absence ! When will you come and stay with me, Agnes ? 


MOUNT EDEN. 


IO $ 

Why not remain at Mount Eden now you are here? Mrs. 
Featherstone will be too busy settling herself to rights to 
miss you for the next few days.” 

Agnes’ face palpably fell at the .proposition, which in 
former days she would have gladly acceded to. 

“ Oh, Evelyn, dear, I cannot possibly remain with you 
— at least, not just yet. Mamma could not spare me, 
because — because we are not quite alone. Papa has some 
friends at the Hall,” she said lamely. 

“ Guests already ! and you only arrived last night ! 
What a nuisance for your mamma. How is that, Agnes ? ” 

“ They — at least I mean he — there is only one gentle- 
man — crossed with us from Calais,” stammered Agnes. 

“Some acquaintance you made abroad, I suppose. Is 
he a foreigner? ” 

“ No — that is, we did meet him abroad — in Florence, I 
think — but he’s not a foreigner, although he has lived for 
a long time in France and Italy, and looks very much like 
an Italian. And he sings, Evelyn — oh, beautifully ! — and 
draws, and paints, and plays the violin.” 

“ How nice ! And what is his name, dear ? ” 

“ Mr. Lyle — Jasper Lyle. Papa says it’s a very good 
name, and he feels satisfied he comes of a good family. 
But all his people are dead. He is the last of his race. 
Isn’t it sad ? ” 

“ He is like me, then, Agnes. I, too, have no living 
.relations. Mr. Lyle and I should have a fellow feeling,” 
returned Evelyn, smiling gravely. “ Is he an old man ? ” 

“ Oh, no, not at all ! About thirty, I think. But, 
Evelyn — ” 

“ Well, darling? ” 

“ I have something to tell you — something very serious 
and important, and perhaps you will be angry with me be- 
cause I have not told it you before.” 

“ When have I ever been angry with you, Agnes ? ” said 
Evelyn, with fond reproach. 

“ But I have always told you all my secrets, Evelyn — 
you the first of all — but I couldn’t help this, dear, because 
it would have seemed so silly, before I was quite sure, and 
it only happened a fortnight ago ; though, of course, I 
could see from his manner that it was coming, and it 
made me awfully happy — and that is the reason that Mr. 
Lyle crossed over with us yesterday, and is going to stay 
at the Hall.” 


io6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“What is it, Agnes? Tell it me quick,” exclaimed 
Evelyn, in a voice of pain. 

Agnes threw herself on her friend’s bosom, a\d hid her 
blushing face in her own curls. 

“ Oh, Evelyn, you will never believe it, but I an engaged 
_ to be married to him, and I do love him so.” 

Those only — who have ever spent weeks or Months in 
vain longing for the bodily presence of a frieid whose 
absence took the best part of their life away, uid then 
found that that friend had been enjoying himsef so well 
without them as to have almost forgotten their ex:stence — 
can understand what Evelyn Rayne felt when Agnes 
Feathers tone told her she was engaged to be married. 
No, there is one other who could have sympathized with 
her. 

The mother, whose dearly-cherished child has taken the 
most important step of her existence, without asking for 
either her counsel or her consent. Evelyn knew, of 
course, that she had no moral or legal right to expect to be 
consulted in the matter, but the sting of disappointment 
was just the same, and with the confession of her secret 
Agnes seemed suddenly to have slipped out of he* hands. 
At first, she could hardly believe that she had heard 
aright. 

Agnes — her little sister — her child, almost — engaged to 
be married to some stranger whom she had never s^en or 
heard of before ! It was incredible, and when she^ had 
recovered from her speechless surprise she said so. 

“ Oh, Agnes ! Engaged ! Going to be married ? ' And 
you never told me. It is impossible.” 

There was such a bitter sense of not having been treated 
as her love had the right to expect in her voice, that the 
dullest person must have recognized it. 

“Oh, Evelyn, how could I?” answered Agnes, w ithout 
raising her head. “Jasper — that is, Mr. Lyle — only 9spoke 
to papa a week ago, and then I thought it would ^e so 
much nicer to surprise you by coming home and tilling 
you myself. And if I had written to you about B it, I 
shouldn’t have known what to say.” 

“ But you have never even mentioned Mr. Lyle’s : name 
to me, Agnes. How long have you known him ? ” * 

“ About six weeks or two months. We met him in lh.ome 
during the Carnival. The Spencers introduced him tfo us.. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


107 


And he took such a fancy to me, Evelyn, that he has 
traveled with us ever since.” 

“And Mr. Featherstone can actually consent to give you 
— his only child — to a man he has known for six weeks ! 
How can he tell this Mr. Lyle will make you happy? 
What can he know about his character or his disposition ? ” 
said Evelyn, with hasty suspicion of the unwelcome 
stranger. 

“ I conclude papa is satisfied,” replied Agnes pouting, 
“ or he would not have consented to my engagment. Any 
one can see that Jasper is a gentleman, Evelyn, and he has 
been quite open about his money matters. He is not rich 
at all ; but what does that signify, when we have so much 
money, and mamma says that papa will make everything 
right for us.” 

“Then Mrs. Featherstone wishes it, Agnes? She is 
ready to give up her ewe-lamb to a stranger’s care. She 
seems in a great hurry to get rid of you, dear,” said 
Evelyn, rather bitterly. But Agnes was not quick to 
detect sarcasm. 

“ Oh, no. It isn’t that ; but mamma 1 kes Jasper aw- 
fully ,” she' exclaimed, with schoolgirl slang, “and so will 
you when you see him. He is so handsome, Evelyn. Tall 
and slight, with lovely blue eyes and dark hair — such an 
unusual combination, mamma says — and such beautiful 
hands and feet. And he sings splendidly — he learnt in 
Italy. And he sketched all the places we stopped at for 
my album.” 

“ An Admirable Crichton, evidently,” said Evelyn. 
“ But all the accomplishments in the world, Agnes, are 
nothing compared to the one great question, — ‘ Do you 
love him ? ’ ” 

Agnes crimsoned like the heart of a rose. 

“ Evelyn, I do love him. I never loved anyone half so 
much in my life before. And if anything happened to 
separate us now, I think that I should die.” 

“Then I will learn to love him too, for your sake, 
darling, though he does threaten to take my little Agnes 
from me,” cried Miss Rayne, as she burst into tears. 

The ebullition was rather an uncommon one with her 
now. She had wept all her tears, as she thought, poor 
girl, long ago, and had hardened herself against the shocks 
of an unkind world. But , the knowledge that Agnes 


lo8 


MOUNT EDEN i 


Featherstone loved some one far better than she did her- 
self had come on her very suddenly indeed. Yet, even as 
she wept, she held Agnes close to her heart, and kissed 
her repeatedly. 

“ But, Evelyn dear,” said the younger girl, when they 
could talk calmly again, “ why should you be afraid that 
Mr. Lyle will not make me happy? It's the usual thing 
for girls to marry, isn’t it? You don’t want me to be an 
old maid like Aunt Sophy? You will marry yourself, some 
day, Evelyn.” 

“ No, darling, never ! ” 'said Miss Rayne vehemently. 

The thought of marriage brought the remembrance of 
her poor outcast Will to her mind. Will, wandering about 
America in want and poverty, or laid to rest, perhaps, in 
an alien grave. She never dreamed that since he had not 
returned to claim the fulfilment of the solemn vow she had 
made, — to be his wife, — marriage with any other man was 
possible to her. And so she repeated, with a determined 
shake of the head, “ Never ! Never !” 

“ But why not? Don’t you like men ? Do you mean 
to live all your life alone at Mount Eden ? Surely not ! 
It would be so very dull. Mamma says you ought to have 
married years ago.” 

“ Your mamma judges me from the usual feminine stand- 
point, Agnes, and I ain not like other women. Sometimes 
I think I have much more the mind and feelings of a man. 
The care of my property is enough to occupy my life. I 
don’t want any interference with it or myself.” 

“ But sqme one who loved you very much, Evelyn,” 
whispered Agnes, out of her new-born experience, “ would 
help, and not hinder you. Wouldn’t it be very sweet to 
have all the trouble taken off your hands, and to have no 
bother and no anxiety ? ” 

“ I think marriagf would be more likely to increase than 
to lessen my anxiety. But please don’t talk of it any 
more, Agnes. It will never come to pass.” 

“ If you only knew how nice it is,” persisted Miss 
Featherstone. 

Evelyn heaved a deep sigh. 

“ Why are you sighing ! Sometimes, I think — ” 

u Well, my darling ? ” 

“ That there is a reason why you have never married, 
Evelyn ; that there is some one you are fond of, and some- 


MOUNT EDEN 


109 


thing has prevented your marrying him. What is it, dear ? 
Was he unworthy of you ? ” 

“ I never thought so,” replied Miss Rayne. 

For the first time she felt as if she must confide in her 
little friend — she, who had never confided in any one before. 
What influence urged her on? The announcement of 
Agnes’ engagement seemed to have stirred up the memory 
of passages in her own life, which could only be smoothed 
over by unburdening her mind of its secret. 

“ Then there is some one ? ” said Agnes eagerly. 

“ There was some one,” replied Evelyn, with a solemn 
look in her sad eyes. 

“ Is he dead ? ” inquired her companion, in a tone of 
awe. 

“ No, Agnes, no ! I am certain that he is not dead — 
something in my heart tells me so, but in all the wide, wide 
world, I do not know where he may be now. My poor 
Will ! ” 

“ Is it long ago, Evelyn ? ” 

“ It is as long ago as when I first came to Mount Eden, 
Agnes.” 

“ Ten years ; and you have not yet forgotten ? ” 

“ No, and never shall forget. But, Agnes, remember I 
tell you this in the strictest confidence — as one dear friend 
to another. I should have told you before had I thought 
that you would understand my feelings. But now that you 
know what love is, you will be able to sympathize with me. 
Don’t think I want to run it down, dear. It must be the 
most beautiful thing God gives us, — when it turns out well, 
— but it so seldom turns out well. Mine has been all 
wrong from the beginning.” 

“ Tell me about it, Evelyn,” said Agnes, nestling close 
to her. 

“ It was my cousin, Will Caryll, darling. Before I came 
to Mount Eden I lived in Liverpool with my aunt, Miss 
Rayne, and when poor cousin Hugh was drowned at sea 
and uncle fetched Will down from London to fill his place 
in the . counting-house, he put him to lodge with Aunt 
Maria. He was such a dear fellow, Agnes, and so fond of 
me. During those happy years we were together, we were 
inseparable. We were very poor, you know, but I have 
never been so happy as I was then, when I prepared all 
my cousin’s meals for him, and kept his clothes in order, 


no 


MOUNT EDEN. 


and thought myself more than repaid when Sunday 
came and he took me out into the country and talked to 
me of love. Oh, Agnes, I did not love — I worshipped 
him ! He was my all.” 

“ But, Evelyn, why is he not here ? ” 

“ Ah, darling, that is the trouble of my life. He was 
wilful and high-spirited, like many other young men, and 
he offended uncle terribly. He was so angry with him that 
he turned him out of his office, and though I begged for 
his forgiveness on my knees, he would not take him back 
again. And then Will went to America — what chance was 
there left for him in England ? — and I have never heard of 
him since.” 

“ Never heard of him since ! Didn’t he write to you ? ” 

“No, dear; he didn't even write. For ten years there 
has been total silence between us. But he will come back 
some day. I feel sure of that. It is all I am waiting for — 
to see Will again before I die.” 

Miss Featherstone was silent. She was not a clever girl, 
but she had sufficient sense to wonder at her friend’s cre- 
dulity. To go on waiting for and expecting the return of 
a lover who had not written for ten years, seemed a very 
simple thing to do. And Jasper had sworn that if they 
were separated, he should send her a letter every day. 
After a pause she said timidly, — 

“ And if he shouldn’t come back, Evelyn — if — if — he 
should be dead ? ” 

“ He will come, dear — he is not dead,” replied Miss 
Rayne confidently. “ Have I not already told you that I 
have a conviction on the subject, too deep to be untrue? 
But I may not see him yet — not for many years. There 
are reasons against it, but they will not last for ever, and 
then we shall meet.” 

“ And be married,” interposed Agnes. 

Evelyn shook her head dubiously. 

“ I am not so sure of that, dear. Time works so many 
changes. We may neither of us wish to marry by the time 
we see each other again. But, however he may come back 
to me — poor or rich, sick or well, old or young — Will will 
find me the same — his true and faithful friend.” 

“ And if he should be faithless ? ” suggested Miss 
Featherstone. 

“ He will not be faithless,” said Miss Rayne abruptly. 
u You do not know him, or you would not think it possible.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


in 


“ Oh, Evelyn, what a heart you have/* sighed Agnes. 
u To hear you talk of Mr. Caryll makes me think I don’t 
love Mr. Lyle half enough.” 

“Your love has not been put to the test yet, Agnes. 
Should it ever be, I am sure you will prove true as gold. 
You are in the sunshine of life now, dear, and I am afraid 
I have been selfish in overshadowing it — even for a 
moment — with the cloud that darkens mine. Let us forget 
it, Agnes. Let us think of something else. I should have 
liked, above all things, to keep you with me ; but, of 
course, now that you have told me this grand piece of news, 
I cannot renew my request that you should stay.” 

“ But you will come to us instead, Evelyn ? ” interposed 
Miss Featherstone eagerly. “ I am the bearer of an es- 
pecial message from mamma to ask you to dine at the 
Hall this evening. And then you will see my Jasper,” she 
added in a whisper, “ and understand how impossible it 
was for me to help loving him.” 

“ Not to-night, my darling,” said Evelyn in a voice of 
pain. 

The revival of her own unfortunate attachment made 
her shrink, somehow, from witnessing the happiness of her 
friend. 

“ Oh, yes, to-night,” pleaded Agnes. 

But Miss Rayne was firm. 

“ To-morrow, dear, or next day, but not to-night. I 
know Mrs. Featherstone sent me the invitation out of kind- 
ness, but I am sure she must be tired, and will be glad of 
rest.” 

“ I thought you would be so anxious to see Mr. Lyle ? ” 
pouted Agnes. 

“ So I am, dear ; but after all I have got you back again, 
and that is the chief thing to me. I will dine with you to- 
morrow, if you particularly wish it, but for to-day — well, I 
don’t mind confessing, my darling, that your news has 
rather upset me, and I should like to have a few hours in 
which to reconcile myself to it. You have been so much 
my own, Agnes, and for so many years, it is hard at first to 
think of giving you up to any one else.” 

Agnes rose from the sofa and shook out her crumpled 
finery. 

“ You will make me begin to hate Mr. Lyle if you talk* 
as if he could come between us,” she cried petulantly. 


1 12 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ However, don’t let us speak of him any more. There is 
a small box in the carriage, Evelyn, that I brought home 
for you. Only a few marble ornaments from Italy, but I 
knew you would like them for your boudoir mantleshelf. 
Ask one of the servants to bring them in.” 

And then the two young women unpacked the case to- 
gether, and kissed over its contents, and interchanged 
many a vow of loyal friendship. Yet, when Agnes Feather- 
stone drove away from Mount Eden that afternoon, Evelyn 
Rayne felt as though she had gone from her, in the old sweet 
sense, for ever. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

A CHANCE RESEMBLANCE. 

For some time after, she stood at the window from which 
she had watched Agnes’ departure, wrapt in her own 
thoughts. 

What had induced her to mention the name of Will 
Caryll, and divulge the secret which she had carried 
patiently and silently in her breast for so many years past ? 
Was it jealous pain at the news of Agnes’ happiness that 
had made her speak out so openly? 

She could not answer her own questions. She only felt 
that the reunion with her little friend had disturbed a 
wound which she had believed to be closed, and brought 
back the past in a flood of unhappy remembrance. As 
Evelyn Rayne stood there, absorbed and alone, she lived 
the scenes of her dead life over again, and longed to renew 
them. She saw the first day on which Mr. Caryll had 
brought Will to her aunt’s house, and bargained with her 
over the price of his board and lodging, and the amount of 
money to be allowed for his washing. She had thought 
him a hard and stingy man then — now she knew he was 
only wise and prudent. But Will had always condemned 
him heartily— Will, with his tall, upright figure, and manly 
bearing and winning smile— with his handsome face and 
merry manner ! How could her Aunt Maria have disliked 
him as she did — her poor, faulty, but eminently charming 


MOUNT EDEN 


”3 


She smiled — unknown to herself — as she recalled the 
happy moments when she had slaved for him during his 
absence, and watched for his return, and been amply re- 
warded by a smile and a kiss from his handsome, self- 
satisfied mouth. And her brows were knit till the tears 
rose to her eyes, as she re-lived, i:i imagination, that 
miserable night when he had hid his face in her lap, and 
confessed the crime of which he had been guilty. 

She had shrunk from and despised him then. Her 
frank and honest nature could not but despise dishonesty, 
and deception, and fraud ; but she had not let him see it. 
She had worked for him still, even to the moment when 
she pushed him out of the front door, dressed in her own 
clothes, and sent him forth into the world to begin a new 
career. How startlingly distinct appeared that moment to 
her still. As she gazed out of the window of Mount Eden 
the leafy avenue, which led to the park, seemed to change 
to the insignificant by-street in Liverpool, as it looked on 
that eventful morning — empty and silent from end to end, 
except for a cat that was strolling homeward, and a caged 
lark that had wakened with the sun. And she, watching 
— watching — with one hand shading her tear-blinded eyes 
till that figure which was Will, and yet not Will, dressed in 
her last year’s things, had slunk away like a thief (as he 
was) from the home that had sheltered him, on his road to 
the early coffee-house and the quay. And she had re- 
turned from the last look — alone for ever after ! But 
though he had neither communicated with nor come back 
to her, his last words were ringing in her ears. 

“ You are mine , now , as much as if I had married 
you , Eve ! I shall always consider that, and if I don't 
coyne back for years, I shall expect to find you waiting for 
me, as I shall for you. Will you swear to be faithful to 
me ? ” 

And she answered solemnly, — 

“ I swear it! ” 

“ And if uncle comes round,” her poor boy had added, 
“ and leaves me Mount Eden, we are to share it together, 
Eve ? ” 

And with that reminder of a promise they had made to 
one another on the night of their betrothal, they had 
separated for ten long years. Was her Will alive or dead ? 
That was the thought that had worried Eve by night and 


: MOUNT EDEN. 


114 

by day ever since they parted. As soon as she had found 
herself mistress of Mount Eden, she had wanted to take 
means to trace her cousin — to advertize for him in the 
papers, or to place the matter in the hands of the detective 
police ; but her trustees had warned her it would be 
fraught with danger. Though Mr. Roger Caryll was dead, 
the firm of Caryll, Tyndall & Masters still survived, and 
either of the partners had a right to prosecute an offence 
committed against them all. So she had reluctantly 
relinquished the idea, ^nd waited to see what time might 
bring her. And time (as yet) had brought her — 7iothing. 
And yet Evelyn felt sure that some day she and Will would 
meet again. If the thought that her youthful lover might 
have died ever intruded itself upon her, she put it away 
resolutely. Were Will dead, she must have known it. 
He had loved her so well. He would have come and told 
her that hope (for this world) was at an end. God would 
not have sundered them for ever on earth, without permit- 
ting them a solitary farewell glimpse of one another. 
Will was not dead — she was sure of that ; but she was not 
quite so sure why he had not written to her. Her only 
solution of his silence was, that he still dreaded detection 
and detention. Oh, if he only knew that his uncle and 
aunt were both dead, and he might return to England with 
impunity ! For, after Mr. Caryll’s death, and her inter- 
view with her trustees on the subject, Evelyn had found 
the forged cheques locked up in an iron safe, and had 
retained them eter since. The firm might prosecute Will 
now, if they considered it worth their while, but without 
proofs they could do nothing to harm him, and she would 
destroy the proofs directly there was any danger. She did 
not know why she had not destroyed them already ; unless 
it were that she might some day have the pleasure of 
seeing Will do so with his own hands. So that he was 
safe from all the world but her, and safer with her than 
with all the world. 

Her poor Will ! How he must have suffered. How 
gladly she would try to recompense it to him as soon as 
he was found. Why had she not adopted some more 
private measures to trace his career, and consulted people 
who were familiar with his adopted country ? He was not 
a man to be passed over in a crowd. This idea threw her 
thoughts back to Captain Philip, and his friend John 
Vernon. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


n 5 


“ They have both traveled,” she thought to herself, 
“ and yet I have never made use of their knowledge, or 
tried to extract any information from them. How stupid 
I have been. I wonder if they are at liberty this afternoon, 
and would dine with me ? I will write and ask them. I 
feel low and unnerved, and a little company will do me 
good. I suppose the captain will answer, as usual, 
No, unless his friend persuades him to be sociable. 
But I can at least try.” 

And without further discussion with herself, Miss Rayne 
sat down and scribbled a little note in pencil to Captain 
Philip, which was put into his hands as he returned with 
young Vernon from their ride to Leighton. It created 
quite a commotion in Bachelor’s Hall. Evelyn had 
frequently invited her land-agent to dine at her table 
when he first came to Mount Eden, but he had been so 
persistent in his refusals, that she had dropped the 
courtesy of late and it was more than six months since he 
had received a similar invitation. He turned the note over 
and over in his hands, hardly knowing what to make of it. 

“ Miss Rayne asks you and me to dine at the big house 
to-day, Jack,” he said, in a tone of surprise ; “ what on 
earth for? What can she want with you or me ? ” 

“ Well I suppose she wants to see us. That is the 
natural conclusion,” replied John Vernon laughing. 

Captain Philip thought he detected gratified vanity in 
the young man’s laugh, and turned upon him with sharp 
jealousy. 

“ I don’t think it’s very likely she can want to see you , 
or that she will derive much pleasure from listening to 
your deep-sea yarns. Miss Rayne has a shuddering aver- 
sion for everything connected with the sea. Your name is 
only included in the invitation because you ^.re staying at 
Bachelor’s Hall. Nor can I imagine what she can have 
to say to me. We settled all our business this morning. 
It is very strange.” 

“ Don’t let us go,” urged Vernon. “ Indeed, captain, I 
am not prepared to appear in the presence of a lady. I 
have no evening clothes to put on.” 

Captain Philip laughed. 

“ Evening clothes, you jackanapes. You would make 
Miss Rayne stare if you did anything of the sort. Do 
you suppose / have any evening clothes, and, if I had, 


MOUNT EDEN. 


11 6 

that I would wear them ? Why Miss Rayne never dresses 
for dinner herself. I don’t believe she has ever worn a 
low-cut dress in her life. No, no ; brush your uniform, 
lad, and wash your face and hands, and you’ll be spruce 
enough for dinner at the big house.” 

“ But won’t Miss Featherstone be there?” demanded 
Vernon. 

“ No,” replied the captain musingly ; “ I feel sure Miss 
Featherstone will not be there. Had she stayed the 
evening, Miss Rayne would have had too much to say to 
her to require the presence of any third person. I’ll tell 
you what I think it must be, Jack. Some gentleman has 
called unexpectedly at the big house who Miss Rayne has 
felt compelled to ask to dinner, and, to avoid the awkward- 
ness of a tete-a-tete, she has sent down for you and me to 
join the paty. She has done it before now. She does 
not care to sit down with, perhaps, a comparative stranger 
alone.” 

“ And so you are made a cat’s-paw for Miss Rayne’s 
convenience?” observed Vernon indifferently. 

“ Did I say so, Jack ? I consider it is treating me more 
like a friend than a cat’s-paw. However, time is getting 
on. Do you mean to accompany me or not ? ” 

“ Of course I mean to accompany you. I am glad of 
the opportunity to see the inside of the big house, and a 
little more of its charming owner, and since you think my 
uniform will do — ” 

“ Oh, bother your uniform ! ” exclaimed Captain Philip 
testily. “ Who do you suppose is going to look at it or 
you ? ” 

After which they walked up to the big house rather 
silently together, the captain broodily wondering the while 
if the reason qf Miss Rayne’s invitation could have any 
connection with a latent desire on her part to see more of 
the good-looking young sailor who strolled by his side. 

She received them both kindly, but without any great 
show of cordiality. They found her alone, and she had 
evidently been crying, for her eyelids were red and swollen 
and her face very pale. She alluded to the traces of her 
emotion, as soon as they encountered each other, with a 
laughing apology. 

“ You will think, from my general appearance, that I 
have been worrying myself this afternoon, Captain Philip ; 


MOUNT EDEN. 


117 

but I have only been having what we silly women call ‘ a 
good cry,’ and which is the best remedy we know of for 
over-excitement; for I have had such a great surprise — a 
joyful surprise, as I am sure it will prove to be. My dear 
friend, Miss Featherstone, is going to be married.” 

“ Indeed ! Miss Rayne. I congratulate her and you. 
Miss Featherstone will doubtless make an excellent 
match.” 

“ I don’t know whether it is excellent, in the ordinary 
acceptation of the term, but it appears to be essentially a 
love match, which is, after all, the chief thing. And I have 
been stupid enough to let the news upset me, Captain 
Philip ; I cannot bear to think of losing my little Agnes 
after so many years. She could not spend the evening with 
me, and so (as I feel wretchedly dull), I thought you two 
gentlemen would be good enough to come and cheer me 
up a little. I can’t tell you how pleased I am to see you 
here." 

“ The pleasure is all on our side, Miss Rayne. I am 
sure Vernon will agree with me in saying so.” 

“ Ah ! Mr. Vernon,” said Evelyn, turning to the younger 
man, “ I am half afraid I owe you an apology. You began 
to tell me something about America, I think, this morning, 
and my head was so full of my poor Gadfly and my cheat- 
ing grooms, that I had no time to listen. You must let me 
make up for my rudeness this evening, for I should love to 
hear all about the places you have visited.” 

She was attired in a soft, clinging dress of fawn- colored 
cashmere, relieved at the throat and wrists by lace ruffles, 
and with a small bouquet of hothouse flowers in the belt 
at her waist, and she smiled so sweetly at the young sailor 
as she spoke, that he again thought her the most charm- 
ing woman he had ever seen, and grew so rosy and confused 
beneath her glance, he could hardly stammer out an an- 
swer to her words. 

“ You must not judge of me as you see me when I am 
transacting business," went on the mistress of Mount Eden 
presently, “ for it always makes me abrupt and irritable. 
I don’t suppose women were ever meant to meddle in it, 
for I am sure it doesn’t make them more amiable — does it, 
Captain Philip ? ” 

“ I don’t think you would be content to leave it in my 
hands. Miss Rayne, or that of any man,” 


i8 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ No, I should not ; no more than I could bear to sit 
still whilst anybody drove me. I should long to snatch the 
whip and reins from their hands, especially in case of an 
emergency. But don’t let us talk of business to-night. I 
hope you admire the big house, Mr. Vernon? I am rather 
proud of its adornment, because it is nearly all due to my- 
self. When I entered on its possession, it had little else 
but bare walls. My poor uncle was so disappointed in all 
his expectations, he had no heart to finish it.” 

“ It is very beautiful, and very tasteful,” replied Vernon, 
looking round at the walls of the drawing-room, which 
were hung with pictures. 

“ Yes, but horribly new, like myself. Yet, like myself 
also (if I live long enough), it will some day be old — only, 
with this difference, that age will improve my house, but 
not me,” said Evelyn, with a laugh. 

“ It is difficult to imagine anything having the power to 
improve you," replied the young man gallantly, for which 
the captain looked as if he would like to give him a taste 
of the cat-o’-nine-tails. 

11 Well r I had no right to expect to get Mount Eden at 
all,” said Miss Rayne, with a sigh, “so I must be satisfied 
with it as it is. I do not come of an ancient family, you 
know, Captain Philip. I am one of that contemned class 
— a nouveau riche. My uncle, Mr. Caryll, made his money 
by the sweat of his brow, and I inherited his earnings for 
no merit of my own, but only because there was no one 
else to do so.” 

“ No family was ancient at the beginning. You are des- 
tined, perhaps, to be the founder of a long race, Miss 
Rayne,” replied Captain Philip smiling. 

What a sudden gloom spread over her features, as though 
a cloud had overshadowed the sun. 

“ I don’t think so,” she said sadly , and then, altering her 
manner, exclaimed, “ but dinner is ready. Let us continue 
our conversation in the dining-room. No, Captain Philip, 
I will not accept your arm — thanks — or I should be com- 
pelled to leave Mr. Vernon out in the cold. Let us all go 
in together. It is so much less formal.” And she tripped 
before them lightly to the dining-room. 

The big house was (as its mistress had affirmed) rather 
new, but it was also very comfortable and commodious. 
If there were no relics of the past about it, it possessed 


MOUNT EDEN, 


119 

none of its inconveniences, and the room they not entered 
was one of the largest and best in the building. The walls 
were hung with good oil-paintings — several of them being 
portraits of those that were gone ; the furniture was of 
modern carved oak; the heavy curtains of Utrecht velvet, 
whilst the floor was covered with a Persian carpet. Every- 
thing was handsome, solid, and in good taste, even to the 
silver bowl of roses that stood in the centre of the table, 
and the neatly-attired, experienced maid-servants (for Miss 
Rayne would have no men about her house), who stood 
ready to wait upon them. The dinner was plain, but ex- 
cellent ; and the hostess dispensed her hospitalities with 
winning grace. But her conversation was chiefly addressed 
to Captain Philip, and Jack Vernon soon found his eyes 
roving round the apartment, scrutinizing the bronze orna- 
ments upon the mantelshelf, and the pictures on the walls. 
Of these latter, one in particular attracted his attention. 
It hung over the fireplace, and represented a boy of about 
ten or eleven years of age, holding the bridle of his pony. 
The figures were life-size, and exquisitely painted, and Ver- 
non felt as if he could not take his eyes off them. Miss 
Rayne’s soon wandered in the same direction. 

“ Ah ! you are looking at the portrait of my little cousin, 
I see, Mr. Vernon. Everyone admires it. Is it not beauti- 
fully done ? It is by the celebrated portrait painter, Buck- 
ner.” 

“ Your cousin ? ” repeated Vernon dreamily. 

“ Yes. Hugh Caryll, my uncle’s only son. He was 
drowned, poor fellow, during his first voyage. Wasn’t it 
sad ? It broke poor uncle’s heart. Pie was never the same 
man afterwards. I have told you all about it, haven’t I, 
Captain Philip ? ” 

“ Yes, Miss Rayne, you have told me about it,” replied 
the captain. 

But Vernon still continued to gaze at the picture. 

“ He must have been a pretty boy, mustn’t he, Mr. Ver- 
non ? ” remarked Miss Rayne. 

“ Yes. And he was drowned, you say? Was he in the 
merchant service ? ” 

“ I think so — I suppose so — but, really, I am not sure, 
for I never knew my Cousin Hugh, and it happened before 
I came to live with my uncle. I know lie was a very head- 
strong boy, and ran away to sea, which must have been 


120 


MOUNT EDEN 


very selfish of him into the bargain, for his mother was 
dead, and his father had set all his hopes upon his only 
child. It was cruel of him to leave him alone. I always 
think that if Hugh had lived, I never could have liked him, 
though he would have been master of Mount Eden, of 
course, at the head of the family. There is another portrait 
of him, Mr. Vernon, over the sideboard, taken as a baby; 
and if you turn round, you will see a third behind you. 
His poor parents doted on him, and if he had only been 
half as good as he was handsome, he might have been sit- 
ting here at the head of his table to-day.” 

“ His place is far more worthily filled, Miss Rayne. I 
should hardly think he was worth a regret,” said the captain 
quietly. 

“Mr. Vernon would not say so. He cannot take his 
eyes off his likeness,” replied Evelyn laughing. 

The young man started, and colored. 

“ Because the face reminds me so powerfully of some 
one I have met, and I cannot remember who it is, Miss 
Rayne. It seems so familiar to me. I feel as if I must 
have known your cousin.” 

“ How strange ! ” said Evelyn, looking also at the por- 
trait ; “ could it have been any one abroad ? any one you 
have met in your wanderings, Mr. Vernon? ” 

“ I think it must be, for it seems to bring a whiff of the 
briny with it. I wish I could remember who it resembles. 
These chance likenesses haunt one sometimes.” 

Captain Philip’s voice broke in harshly upon the conver- 
sation. He seemed to be jealous of his young friend 
monopolizing so much of Miss Rayne’s attention. 

“ True ; and when, after an infinite amount of useless 
trouble, you recall the owner of the fancied resemblance, 
you generally discover that memory has been cheating you, 
and there is no likeness whatever between them. I should 
think you might find something better to entertain Miss 
Rayne with, Vernon, than such silly ideas.” 

Vernon was about to apologize, when Miss Rayne inter- 
rupted him. 

“ But I don’t call them ‘ silly,’ Captain Philip. They 
interest me, for (do you know) I have often dreamt of the 
possibility of my Cousin Hugh being alive, and coming 
back to claim his property. For it is his property. I only 
inherited Mount Eden under the codicil, and the first will 


MOUNT EDEN 


121 


(that left everything to him) is still in existence, and in 
my possession.” 

“ But so much waste-paper, Miss Rayne, in the face of 
the later will.” 

“Not if Hugh were alive, surely; besides, I wouldn’t 
keep it under the circumstances. I should abnegate at 
once. And uncle never received any certain proofs of his 
death. He might return some day. I should never be 
surprised.” 

“ But I don’t think you’d be pleased, Miss Rayne. 
How could you bear to give up Mount Eden now ? ” 

“ Ah, Captain Philip, it won’t bear thinking of ; but if 
it were just, it would have to be done. Poor Hugh, he 
must have suffered enough. Do you think I would keep 
him out of his own property? Not for ten thousand 
Mount 'Edens.” 

“Well, ‘poor Hugh ’ is not likely to trouble you, I 
fancy,” said Captain Philip gruffly, “ and you may rest 
secure in the possession of your rights. It’s very seldom 
that certain proofs are received of a sailor being drowned 
at sea ; but when a fellow goes under water in the surf of 
the Bay of Callao (as you have told me your cousin did), 
and never comes up again, it’s as good proof as ever was 
needed that he’s a dead man.” 

“ But he might have been saved,” continued Miss Rayne, 
with a woman’s pertinacity ; “ there’s no knowing — such 
things have happened — and Mr. Vernon might have met 
him somewhere in his travels. That’s why I want him to 
try and remember of whom the portrait reminds him. We 
might find my Cousin Hugh again by such simple means 
as that.” 

Captain Philip burst out laughing. 

“ Forgive me, Miss Rayne. Don’t think me rude, but 
they would be simple means, indeed. If you follow a clue 
like my friend Vernon’s, you may end by relinquishing 
your property to some one who has no claim upon it at all. 
A good many people would like to personate ‘ Cousin 
Hugh.’ We should have another claimant case crowding 
the law courts. Why, John Vernon here must have been 
in long clothes when. your cousin ran away to sea.” 

Miss Rayne’s face fell, 

“ Of course ! How silly I am. I forgot how young Mr. 
Vernon is, and really imagined I might have gained a clue 
to my dream.” 


122 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Your dream !” echoed the captain. 

“ Yes. I have often dreamt that my cousin was alive 
and came back to Mount Eden. I don’t know why I 
should, except that the story of his unhappy fate impressed 
me as a child. But you laugh at my romantic ideas, Cap- 
tain Philip, so I shall not tell you anything more about 
them.” 

“ Well, I am quite sure that they will never prove any- 
thing more than ideas, or dreams, Miss Rayne, and so 
your friends can afford to laugh at them. Depend on it 
that Cousin Hugh will never trouble you or any one else 
in this world again.” 

“ Poor fellow,” said Evelyn softly, “ don’t let us talk of 
him any more. Tell me of America, Mr. Vernon,” and 
her voice fell to a sadder key as she spoke the word ; 
“ have you been there often, and — and — did you meet many 
of your countrymen there ? I have heard there are many 
English in America, and I have often wished to visit it 
myself. Tell me all you know. It seems to be such a 
wide — wide place, as if one might be quite lost out there. 
What states did you visit? Do you know New York? ” 

“ Better than the rest of America, Miss Rayne, because 
I have made three voyages out to it and back again. But 
the captain there and I once made a memorable tour of 
the Southern States, winch lasted three months. I won- 
der he has never told you of all the adventures we went 
through during that trip.” 

“ Captain Philip has never told me anything of his past 
life ; he keeps all the fun to himself,” exclaimed Miss 
Rayne, with mock reproach. “ He is so absorbed in 
drainage, and top-dressing, and chemical manures, he does 
not stop to consider how dull I am up here at the big 
house all by myself.” 

“ I have nothing to tell, I assure you, Miss Rayne,” 
replied the captain earnestly. “ My past life has been as 
stupid as myself. I am only fit for top-dressing and 
chemical manures. The * fun ’ exists in the vivid imagina- 
tion of my young friend over there.” 

“Why, captain, have you quite forgotten, then, the 
colored belle who followed us all the way from Buffalo to 
Oil City to ask for a lock of your hair? ” said Jack Ver- 
non laughing ; “ and the lady at St. Louis, who declared 
she had been married to you in England, and you had 
deserted her for somebody else ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN 


123 

The captain reddened under his sun-burnt skin, and 
Evelyn laughed. 

“I am sure that must have been a case of mistaken 
identity, Mr. Vernon,” she said, for Captain Philip is a 
confirmed bachelor. I don’t believe he would go ten yards 
out of his way to see the prettiest girl in England.” 

“ And I am quite sure I wouldn’t,” replied the captain. 
“ I’ve outgrown such folly long ago.” 

“ If it’s not rude, Captain Philip, might I ask what your 
age is ? ” said Miss Rayne. 

“ Forty,” he answered, after a pause. 

“ Forty ! ” she echoed, looking at him fixedly. “ Im- 
possible ! ” 

“ Why impossible ? ” 

“ Because — because you don’t look forty, or talk like it, 
or anything,” she returned. 

“ Perhaps you know best,” he said, with an uneasy laugh, 
as he turned his face away from her scrutiny. 

“ But we are forgetting — America,” continued Evelyn, 
after a pause. “ Is it very wild down in those states ? Is 
it safe for strangers ? Do they ever get roughly handled 
over there — hurt, or wounded, or — or killed /” 

“ Often ,” replied Vernon, with a smile at her ignorance; 
“ indeed, more often than not. The slightest quarrel 
there is settled with a bowie-knife or a revolver. The 
captain and I once saw a man shot down like a dog for 
treading on another’s toes in a crowd. Didn’t we, captain ? ” 

Miss Rayne closed her eyes. 

“ How horrible ! ” she sighed. “ People with quick 
tempers must run a terrible risk out there.” 

“ It is generally short work with them, I can assure you, 
Miss Rayne. It doesn’t do to have a temper in the 
states.” 

“ And if any one were stranded there, unknown and 
friendless, would there be any chance, think you, of his 
drifting so far away from civilization as to be unable to 
communicate with those at home — to be cut off (as it 
were) from England, and lost in the wilds of America?” 

Her hesitating voice and nervous manner attracted both 
the men’s attention. 

“ Have you lost sight of a friend in America, Miss 
Rayne ? ” demanded Vernon. 

She colored like a rose. 


124 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“I ? Oh, dear, no ! Who should I know on the other 
side of the worlds But a lady — an acquaintance of mine 
. — hasn’t heard from her — from her son for such a long time, 
and she is uneasy about him, so I thought — ” 

But here Evelyn stopped short, unable to proceed 
further with a subterfuge that was foreign to her nature. 
Captain Philip’s dark eyes watched her narrowly as she 
played with her dessert knife and fork, and scrutinized the 
painted flowers on her plate. 

“She must indeed be uneasy,” replied John Vernon to 
her remark, “for there are few places out there (if, indeed, 
any) where postal communication is unknown. Still, I 
have heard of men getting up into the Rocky Mountains, 
and such like districts, where they have been unable to 
write home for months together.” 

“ But this is a case of years,” said Evelyn mournfully. 

“ Indeed ! I don’t think I should expect, myself, ever 
to see a man again who had not written home for years.” 

There was a painful silence after the last remark, which 
Captain Philip tried to divert by saying, — 

“ Is it indiscreet, Miss Rayne, to ask you the name of 
Miss Featherstone’s future husband? ” 

Evelyn started from her reverie with nervous haste. 

“ Oh, no ! Agnes made no secret of it. She came over 
here to-day, as proud as possible, to tell me all the par- 
ticulars of her engagement. His name is Mr. Lyle — 
Jasper Lyle.” 

“ Any profession ? ” 

“ No ; at least she didn’t say so. He seems to have 
lived the best part of his life abroad, so I suppose he must 
be a man of independent means. But we didn’t discuss 
the prosaic part of the matter. We left that to Mr. 
Featherstone. All I cared to hear was, that Agnes is very 
happy, and Mr. Lyle (of course) perfection.” 

“You have not seen the gentleman yet, then ? ” 

“ No. Agnes coaxed me very hard to go back to the 
Hall with her to-day ; but I preferred to postpone the 
meeting till to-morrow. I thought it was too soon to 
intrude on Mrs. Featherstone’s hospitality. But to-morrow 
I have pledged myself to dine there, and be introduced to 
Mr. Lyle. Not that I feel at all inclined to welcome him 
for taking my dear child away from me.” 

“ Is the wedding to be soon, Miss Rayne ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN . 


125 


“ I heard nothing of that. I don’t think the day is fixed 
yet, and I hope (for my own sake) that it may not be fora 
long time. But if we have quite finished, I want to show 
you the marbles Miss Featherstone brought me from 
Rome. They are lovely.” 

The rest of the evening was spent in looking at and 
discussing the merits of the various possessions of the 
mistress of Mount Eden ; but it was quite early, when the 
two gentlemen bade her good-night, and strolled back 
together to Bachelor’s Hall. 

“ Well, what kind of an evening have you spent, Jack? ” 
demanded Captain Philip of his young friend. “ Rather 
too dull and quiet, I expect, for one of your excitable 
temperament ? ” 

“ Not at all, captain ; and all the more agreeable, 
perhaps, from the contrast to my usual life. But I can’t 
get that picture out of my head. It is so like somebody I 
know. I will get at the truth, if I think all night about 
it.” 

“ Oh, bother the picture,” exclaimed the captain. “ If 
it is like anybody else, what’s the odds ? The boy’s dead 
and gone, and the picture is all that remains of him. But 
didn’t it strike you, Jack, that Miss Rayne seemed very 
anxious for news about America ? I have seldom seen her 
so excited before. Do you think she can have had any 
possible interest in putting those questions to you ? ” 

“ I’m sure I can’t say, captain. Women are riddles to 
me. I don’t understand them. But I wish I could 
remember whose eyes it is, of which that picture puts me 
so powerfully in mind.” 


CHAPTER XIV. 

AGNES’ LOVER. 

People used to say that it was lucky Mr. Andrew Feather- 
stone, the banker, had only one child of his own, for the 
name of his family was legion. Like most men who have 
amassed wealth for themselves, he had a score of poor 
relations, who swooped down periodically, like a swarm of 
hungry vultures, upon Featherstone Hall, eager to pick up 
the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Some of 


126 


MOUNT EDEN. 


them, indeed, had swooped to such advantage as to remain 
fixtures at the Hall for life ; and strangers had occasionally 
some difficulty in understanding' how so many people with 
different names came to be congregated under the same 
roof. Thus Mr. Featherstone’s half-brother, by a second 
marriage of his mother, Mr. William Rastall, had been a 
permanent visitor at his house for ten years past ; whilst 
his wife’s sister, Miss Macdonald, had lived with them 
ever since their wedding day. It was a favorite project of 
Mrs. Featherstone’s to marry Her sister to her brother-in- 
law, and get rid of them both at the same time ; but as the 
pair were incessantly wrangling, there did not seem to be 
much hope of a speedy consummation of her wishes 
regarding them. Miss Macdonald had brought in her 
train Arthur Leyton, the deformed and orphaned son of 
another sister, who had died in giving him birth, and 
though the unfortunate boy was now old enough to go to 
school, he spent all his holidays at the Hall, and added to 
the complication of names whilst there. The Feather- 
stones, pere et mere, were not refined either by birth or 
education. They were honest, and good, and hospitable 
to a degree, but they were very vulgar. Evelyn Rayne 
had called herself a nouveau riche , but they had far more 
claim to the title, for, stripped of their wealth, they would 
have lost all passport to society. 

Their daughter was different. She had been trained in 
a higher school than her parents, and received a better 
education, and was, in every sense of the word, a lady. 
And much of this was due to the influence of Evelyn 
Rayne, with whose refined and sensitive feelings Agnes had 
been brought so continually in contact. But it must not 
be supposed, in consequence, that because she knew more 
than her parents, and spoke and acted in a superior manner 
to what they did, Agnes Featherstone looked down upon 
them. That was the last teaching she would have received 
from her friend Evelyn, or, indeed, from her own heart, for 
she had inherited her father’s and mother’s kindly disposi- 
tion, and loved them as dearly as they did her. They 
were, in fact, a most united and affectionate family, and 
looked upon Evelyn Rayne as one of themselves. Mr. 
and Mrs. Featherstone, who were perfectly aware of their 
own shortcomings, had had an ambition ever since the 
birth of their daughter to marry her to a gentleman. They 


MOUNT EDEN. 


127 


didn’t care about his being rich. They had more than 
enough money for themselves, and Agnes into the bargain. 
Only they wanted to make sure that their wealth would 
flow into the proper channel, and raise their children’s 
children into the society of which they only hung upon the 
borders. It was this idea that had made them give so 
ready a consent to Agnes’ engagement to Jasper Lyle. 
That he was a gentleman of refinement and education, no 
one who saw him could doubt, and if he was not possessed 
of substantial means, Mr. Featherstone did not intend to 
make that an obstacle to the happiness of his daughter. 
Mr. Rastall and Miss Macdonald (who had kept house 
together at the Hall during the absence of its k rightful 
owners) were loud in their denunciations of the new 
candidate of the Featherstone crumbs. Mr. Lyle was a 
beggar, and an adventurer, and a fortune-hunter, and 
everything that was bad in their eyes, and they had no 
hesitation in saying so — behind his back. 

They wondered that the banker and his wife could be so 
blind to their own and their daughter’s interests as to 
entertain his proposals for a minute. But Mr. Featherstone 
was firm. “ If it were for Agnes’ happiness,” he said, 
“ the marriage should take place if Mr. Lyle had not a coat 
to his back. If it were not so, he shouldn’t have her if he 
were a millionaire.” He had thrown the young people 
together — perhaps a little imprudently — and they had 
become attached to each other, and now nothing should 
separate them except their own free will. He was not 
going to break the heart of his only child for the sake of a 
few pounds, shillings, and pence. So the pensioned 
vultures had to beat a crestfallen retreat, and revenge 
themselves by pecking at each other. 

Mr. Featherstone was right in one respect. It really 
seemed as if Agnes’ heart was so bound up in Jasper Lyle, 
and his in hers, that it would be a matter of life and death 
to separate them. Whether it is due to the climate, or the 
romantic surroundings, or the greater opportunities for in- 
tercourse, is an open question ; but, certainly, love seems 
to strike more deeply, and grow more quickly, in the 
atmosphere of Italy and Spain than in the more prosaic 
temperature of England. And Jasper Lyle was the first 
man of intellect and culture with whom Agnes Feather- 
stone had been brought in intimate communion. His store 


128 


MOUNT EDEN \ 


of knowledge seemed in her eyes illimitable, and his method 
of imparting it irresistible. He possessed, too, a face and 
figure calculated to attract the fancy of any woman. He 
was tall and slight, almost to thinness ; but singularly full 
of grace. His face was long — what his would-be detrac- 
tors might have termed a “ hatchet ” face — but it seemed to 
harmonize perfectly with his pale complexion and languid 
eyes. He wore his hair, which was wavy, much longer 
than is usual with Englishmen, and his mouth and chin 
were completely covered with a beard and moustaches — a 
dark, silky beard, that had never known the barber’s shear, 
but been permitted to grow untouched, as Nature willed 
it. Had this beard been shorn off, it would have revealed 
a weak mouth and retreating chin that augured badly for 
the happiness of any one whose faith depended on its 
owner ; but the hair curled closely over it, like charity, 
and hid a multitude of sins. Mr. Lyle’s whole appearance, 
aided by the cut of his clothes, was much like that of a 
foreigner, to which a distinct accent in his pronunciation 
of English added peculiar force. He often spoke to his 
fiancee in French or Italian — a proceeding which outraged 
Miss Macdonald to such an extent, that, on first hearing 
it, she asked her sister, in her most sarcastic tones, if Mr. 
Lyle had left his organ and monkey behind him in Italy. 
But good-natured Mrs. Featherstone was too happy in her 
girl’s happiness to take offence at the insult. She liked to 
hear the young people talk to each other in French. She 
was not jealous, though she did not understand one word 
they uttered. She was proud, rather, to think her Agnes 
was so clever as to be able to converse with her lover in a 
foreign language ; and considered that the French accent 
imparted quite a distinguished air to the whole establish- 
ment. 

And Mr. Lyle doted upon Agnes, and none the less 
because she was the sole heiress to her father’s money. 
For he had not disguised the truth from Mr. Featherstone 
that he was a poor man. He was quite frank about the 
matter. He had a small income — about three hundred a- 
year — which had been sufficient to keep him abroad, but 
not at home, and that was the reason he gave for having 
deserted England for so long. The good-hearted banker 
had admired his honesty, and promised him it should be 
no obstacle to his marriage. If Agnes loved him, it was 


MOUNT EDEN. 


129 


all-sufficient. Agnes was to be made happy at any cost. 
And Agnes was in the seventh heaven. All she wanted 
now, was to bring Mr. Lyle and her dear Evelvn together, 
and see them the best of friends. 

“ You must love her,” she kept on repeating, “ as well 
as I do, Jasper, for she is the dearest creature on the face 
of the earth. There was never any one like her before — ■ 
so good, and sweet, and true — and so clever into the bar- 
gain. I shall be awfully disappointed if you and Evelyn 
are not the best of friends.” 

“ Tiens , ma petite ,” said Lyle, smiling at her earnestness, 
“ if this Mademoiselle Rayne is so very charming, would 
that be safe? Eh, you laugh at me ? You are not, then, 
afraid of any danger ? But I shall want no friend but your- 
self, Agnes. My little wife must be my best friend.” 

“ Oh, yes,” acquiesced Agnes, with a blush, “ I know 
that, darling ; but still I could never be happy if you did 
not like Evelyn. She has been so good to me all my life 
— I cannot* tell you how good — and I hope that we shall 
never live far apart from one another. Dear, sweet Eve- 
lyn.” 

“ How is. she like, Agnes, this chere amie of yours ? ” 

“How is she like? You stupid fellow. What is she 
like, you mean. Oh, tall and fair, with grey eyes and 
chestnut hair. Aunt Sophy says she cannot see anything 
in Evelyn ; but she’s a spiteful old thing, you know, and I 
think her perfectly beautiful.” 

“ And very clevare to manage so large a property all by 
herself,” mused Mr. Lyle. 

“ She has Captain Philip to help her.” 

“ And who is the Capitaine Philip, petite ? A lover ? ” 

Agnes laughed immoderately in her glee. 

“A lover ! I wish Evelyn could hear you. Why, he’s 
only her land-agent and overseer — the man who takes all 
the trouble off her hands, you know.” 

“ But she must have lovers, this young lady who is so 
beautiful and clevare, and, above all things, rich,” argued 
Lyle. 

“ Indeed she hasn’t, then,” cried Agnes. “ She has always 
called me her little sweetheart ; but now, I suppose, she 
will give that up. She might have lovers, I am sure — any 
number 'of them if she chose — only — ” 

“ Only what , Agnes ? Finish the story.” 

5 


ISO 


MOUNT EDEN 


“ No, I must not. It is a secret. I promised not to 
tell.” 

“ But to me, cherie ? ” 

“ Not even to you, Jasper. It is Evelyn’s secret, not 
mine.” 

“ Suppose I guess it ? This friend of yours had a lover 
once — in days gone by — and she has not forgotten him. 
But is it possible ? Does she speak to you of these days ? ” 

Agnes looked into his face astonished. 

“Of what days, Jasper? Has any one been telling 
you ? ” 

“ No, no. How could they ! It is mere conjecture. 
But given a lady — young, rich, and handsome, but without 
admirers, and what is the inference ? A lover in the back- 
ground. That is all.” 

“How quick you are,” said Agnes admiringly-. “You 
ought to write novels. But I can tell you nothing. My 
darling Evelyn will be here this evening, and then you will 
see her for yourself.” 

“And supposing I do not like her — this charming friend 
of yours — what then, Agnes ? ” 

The girl looked alarmed. 

“ Oh, but you must — you will — you cannot help it,” she 
cried. “All I am afraid of, Jasoer, is, that you will like 
her better than myself.” 

He twined his long fingers fondly in her soft curls. 

“ That would be impossible, ma bien aimee. But with 
some people, Agnes, I cannot ( what the English call ) 
‘get on.’ I am not sy?npatica, and it is even on the 
cards that your Mademoiselle Evelyn will not like me .” 

“ I am sure she will,” responded Agnes, with tearful 
earnestness. “ Why, it would spoil all my happiness if 
there was the slightest coolness between you two. What 
I should like best would be that we should all live in the 
same house together for the rest of our lives.” 

Mr. Lyle laughed at her eagerness, but the laugh was not 
entirely an easy one ; and an unbiassed spectator of the 
scene might have thought he was jealous of the influence 
exercised over liis future wife by her female friend. The 
conversation left its effects upon Agnes also. It made her 
feel nervous about the evening’s introduction, and on the 
qui vive to note what effect the first sight of Evelyn would 
have upon her lover. As the time for Miss Rayne’s arrival 


MOUNT EDEN 


131 

approached, the girlish figure, robed in some diaphanous, 
rosy material, flitted between the drawing-room and the 
hall door, anxious to secure the first word with her friend. 
Evelyn was true to her time The Hall did not keep 
fashionable hours any more than the big house, and six 
o’clock was considered quite late enough for dinner. As 
the little omnibus that brought her over stopped at the 
door ( she had more than one grand carriage in her coach- 
house, but she never used them ), Agnes flew down the 
steps to receive her. 

“Oh, darling,” she exclaimed, “I have been waiting 
about here for nearly half an hour. I am so nervous, 
Evelyn, and so excited. Suppose, after all, you shouldn’t 
like him ? ” 

Evelyn (who was shaking out the folds of her black 
velvet dress and settling the lace about her throat and 
wrists) stopped short in the operation to regard the girl’s 
flushed and eager face. 

“ Not like him, Agnes ! Are you speaking of Mr. Lyle ? ” 

“Yes. You love me, dear, but our tastes may not 
always agree ; and — and — if you shouldn’t think the same 
as I do about Jasper, it will break my heart.” 

“You silly child! What difference could it make to 
your happiness with your future husband ? But don’t be 
afraid, Agnes,” continued Evelyn gravely ; “ I am bound to 
think the very best of anyone you love, for the sake of our 
long-tried affection.” 

And, drawing the girl into her embrace, she kissed her 
fondly. As they disengaged themselves again, they saw a 
figure standing beside them in the dusky hall. It was Mr. 
Lyle himself, who seemed to have caught the infection of 
Agnes’ anxiety, and wished to get the introduction to Miss 
Rayne over before they encountered the many eyes of 
scrutiny in the drawing-room. 

“ Oh, here is Jasper,” cried Agnes, with a gasp. “ Jasper, 
this is my dear friend and sister, Evelyn Rayne. Don’t 
*be formal with her. Shake hands at once, and let me feel 
that you are going to be friends.” 

“ I am quite willing, for my part, to be the best of friends,” 
said Evelyn cordially, as she extended her hand. 

Mr. Lyle took it, but for a moment he did not speak. 
Then he answered, with more decided French accent than 
usual, — 


132 


MOUNT EDEN 


“ I am happy, also, to make the acquaintance of one so 
dear to Agnes.” 

“ That is right. Now my heart is at rest, and we can 
proceed in state to the drawing-room,” exclaimed Miss 
Featherstone as she pushed them gaily in front of her. 

Evelyn did not know quite what to think. She had not 
expected Agnes’ fiance to be so like a foreigner either in 
speech or appearance. It puzzled her how an Englishman 
could ever so far forget what was due to his birthright as 
to adopt the manners and idiosyncrasies of another nation ; 
and as soon as she had exchanged greetings with the rest 
of the family, she turned her eyes again upon Mr. Lyle 
with the keenest curiosity. But he appealed to be shy of 
her observation (as a lover well might), or to wish to 
avoid it, for he had withdrawn himself to the farthest por- 
tion of the room, and professed to be interested in the 
pages of a book. And there Evelyn was fain (for the time 
being) to leave him, for Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone had 
naturally much to say to their young friend after so long an 
absence, and she could not be so rude as to allow her 
attention to wander. At dinner, however, she found her- 
self placed exactly opposite the lovers, and she felt as if 
she could not keep her eyes off Mr. Lyle. What was it 
in the man’s appearance that so attracted her? She did 
not admire him — far from it. Her first view of Agnes’ 
lover had been a genuine disappointment. Jasper Lyle 
was not manly enough to suit her taste. He looked more 
like a poet or a troubadour than a gentleman of the nine- 
teenth century. And then his hybrid dress and manner of 
talking rather repulsed her. She liked an Englishman to 
look and speak like one, and she fancied there was some 
affectation in Mr. Lyle’s pronunciation, and that it was not 
wholly natural to him. When Agnes had at last drawn her 
into a conversation with him, Evelyn found her thoughts 
running in the same channel. 

“You must have lived a long time abroad, Mr. Lyle, to 
have acquired so decided an accent,” she said. “Were 
you born there ? ” 

The simple question seemed to confuse him. He stam- 
mered as he replied, — 

“Yes — no. That is to say, my mother was French, 

Miss Rayne ; so, you see, I am only half English.” 

“ And you were educated abroad ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


*33 

“ 1 have lived there nearly all my life,” he answered, with 
his face bent down upon his plate. 

“ Well, you’ve got to turn into an Englishman again now, 
my boy,” exclaimed Mr. Featherstone cheerily, “ for 
mamma and I don’t mean to let our little Agnes cross the 
channel without us. She’s all we’ve got, you know, and 
we can’t spare her out of our sight.” 

“ Then you shouldn’t have consented to her marriage 
with a gentleman that’s half a foreigner,” snapped Miss 
Macdonald. 

“ But Mr. Lyie nas promised not to separate us from 
her,” interposed Mrs. Featherstone. 

“ Surely,” replied Mr. Lyle, “ Agnes is English, and 
must remain in her own country.” 

“ And you must become English too, you naughty boy,” 
exclaimed his jiajice. “ Do you know, Jasper, your pro- 
nunciation grows worse instead of better. I really think 
you are more French to-day than ever. Evelyn is staring 
with all her eyes at your accent. She never heard any- 
body speak so badly before. Did you, Evelyn ? ” 

Miss Rayne was indeed staring in the most unaccount- 
able manner at the stranger. Her eyes seemed fixed in 
his direction, and when Agnes’ laughing question recalled 
her to herself, she turned them in a dazed manner upon 
her plate. 

“Your friend does not like me. I had an intuition it* 
would be so,” whispered Mr. Lyle to his betrothed, under 
cover of the general conversation. 

“ Nonsense, Jasper,” replied Agnes with a look of pain. 

“ Don’t take fancies into your head. When you know 
Evelyn better, you will acknowledge she is the last person 
to pass a hasty judgment upon anyone. It is only your 
accent that amuses her a little.” 

But whether it was due to the presence of Mr. Lyle at 
the Hall dinner-table or not, Miss Rayne had become 
unaccountably silent. There she sat, with her fair head 
crowned with its wealth of chesnut hair, bent down upon 
her plate, holding commune with herself, or raising it only 
to steal a furtive glance across the table to where the 
lovers sat, side by side, talking in a low voice to one another. 

“ Talk, talk , Evelyn ! ” cried Agnes gaily, after a little 
while. “What has come to you this evening, darling? 
You — who are generally so full of life. Have you nothing 
to say to us after so long an absence ? ” 


134 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“What shall I say? ” exclaimed Evelyn, rousing herself 
at the challenge of her friend. “You are the queen of the 
feast, Agnes, and should lead the conversation. It is 
really very embarrassing to be ordered to say something. 
May I make it a question? Have you ever been in 
America, Mr. Lyle ? ” 

The query came as unexpectedly as a pistol shot, and 
seemed to startle everybody at table, and especially the 
man to whom it was addressed. 

“ What a funny idea,” cried Agnes, elevating her brows ; 
“ of course he hasn’t.” 

“ But why * of course ? ’ ” persisted Miss Rayne , “ the 
journey is nothing now-a-days, and a traveler like Mr. 
Lyle has probably made it more than once. And I am in- 
terested in the States. I have relations there. He may 
have met them. Have your wanderings led you so far, 
Mr. Lyle?” 

There was a tone in her voice that made Jasper Lyle 
dread he knew not what, and forced him to raise his eyes 
against his will. It was the first time Evelyn had fairly 
met his gaze, and the room seemed to go round with her 
as she encountered it. 

“ I — have — not — been — to — America, mademoiselle,” he 
answered slowly. 

“ Have you not ? ” she asked again, without removing 
her eyes from his. 

As they regarded each other thus, Mrs. Featherstone 
saw all the color die out of Miss Rayne’s fresh cheeks, 
leaving them of an ashy paleness. 

“Evelyn, 4 my dear girl,” she cried, rising and passing 
round the table to her assistance, “what is the matter? 
Are you ill? ” 

“ I don’t feel very well,” said Evelyn, in a strange voice. 
“ It is this sudden spring heat that always upsets me. 
With your permission, Mrs. Featherstone, I will leave the 
table and await your return in the drawing-room.” 

# “ Let me go with you, darling ? ” exclaimed Agnes, 
rising from her seat. 

But Miss Rayne repulsed her attention with a quick 
gesture, that was almost one of dislike. 

“ No, Agnes, don’t worry me. I would rather be alone,” 
she said, and then, quickly aware of her injustice, added 
more sweetly. “ Don’t make a fuss about it, please, dear. 
I am only a little faint. I shall be all right in a minute.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


135 


But they insisted upon making a fuss over her, even 
down to Aunt Sophy, for Evelyn was a general favorite 
at the Hall. They had not the tact to perceive that she, 
was suffering from a mental, rather than a physical cause ; 
and they opened the windows and ran for smelling-salts 
and eau-de-cologne , and hovered over her until every ser- 
vant in the establishment knew that Miss Rayne from the 
big house was “ taken worse.” How our friends, with well- 
meaning stupidity, torture us from time to time in like 
manner. They will not let us fight our own battles in 
proud silence, and earn the right to say, “ Alone I did it.” 
They pull the weapons we have unsheathed out of our very 
hands, the visor from our features, the chain armor off our 
breast, and leave us, stripped and defenceless, in the face 
of the enemy. They cannot read the dumb, beseeching 
eyes, and the clasped hands we turn upon them ; but 
question, and comment, and advise, until the last poor 
barrier is pulled down, and we stand revealed in all our 
weakness. 

Evelyn prayed and protested against the interference of 
her friends until she could resist no longer, and then pride 
came to her assistance, and she sat down in her chair 
again, declaring she was perfectly recovered, and deter- 
mined to bear everything sooner than break up the family 
party. 

All this time Mr. Lyle had never once raised his eyes to 
her face, but kept them directed towards the window or 
the sideboard. Whilst every one else was hovering over 
her, and doing all in their power to relieve her evident 
faintness, he kept his seat, and looked the picture of dis- 
comfort. But they were too busy with her to notice his 
behavior. Although she insisted upon keeping her place 
at the table, the incident that had occurred was so unusual, 
— Evelyn being anything but of the fainting order of 
womanhood, — that it cast a certain gloom over the re- 
mainder of the meal, and Mrs. Featherstone gave early 
notice of a retreat to the drawing-room. As soon as she 
had left the dining-room behind her, Miss Rayne’s lassitude 
gave place to an eager excitement, which accorded strangely 
with her pale face and lustreless eyes. 

“ Dear Mrs. Featherstone, do let me go home before the 
gentlemen leave their wine. Indeed, I am not well. It is 
impossible that I can sit out the remainder of the evening. 
Pray let me order my carriage, and go at once.” 


136 


MOUNT EDEN. 


She was trembling all over as she spoke, as if she had got 
the ague, and Mrs. Featherstone feared she was going to 
be seriously ill. 

“ Of course you shall do as you like, my dear ; but I 
wish I could persuade you to stay here for the night 
instead. The blue room is quite ready for your reception, 
Evelyn, and I don’t think I ought to let you leave the Hall 
until you are better, or have seen a doctor.” 

“ A doctor ! ” laughed Miss Rayne. “ Oh, nonsense, 
it’s not a case for a doctor. I am only over-tired and over- 
wrought. Spring is such a busy season on the farm, you 
know ; and I should not have come out at all this evening 
except for Agnes, and — and — for you.” 

“ Well, well, dear, I won’t try to gainsay your wishes, 
though your return will break up our pleasant evening. 
But you will come again soon, won’t you, Evelyn? Agnes 
will never be satisfied till you have made the acquaintance 
of Mr. Lyle, and I don’t think you have exchanged a dozen 
words with him as yet.” 

“ Oh, yes, of course I must make the acquaintance of 
Mr. Lyle,” cried Evelyn hysterically. It would never do 
for him and me not to be friends — the very best of friends. 
But if you love me, let me go now — for I am really — not 
well.” 

“ Jasper shall call your carriage and see you into it?’ 
said Agnes, ready to propose anything that should take her 
back into the presence of her lover. But Evelyn laid her 
hand upon her arm. 

“•JVo,” she replied firmly, “ I will have no one disturbed. 
I shall walk down to the stables and get into it myself.” 

They did not oppose her decision, though Agnes insisted 
upon walking down also, with her arm fondly thrown about 
her friend’s waist. Evelyn kissed her mechanically, and 
bade her good-night as she mounted into her vehicle : but 
as soon as she had passed through the drive gates and 
Featherstone Hall was left behind her, all her enforced 
calmness gave way, and she sunk back upon the cushions 
in a storm of grief. 


MOUNT EDEN 


*37 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE PHOTOGRAPH. 

A very blank feeling fell upon the party at the Hall after 
Evelyn's departure. 

Agnes was almost in tears (so concerned was she at the 
behavior of her friend), and Miss Macdonald declared 
she had no belief in the statement that Evelyn was ill. 
They had known her now for ten years, and when had she 
ever been taken ill in this mysterious and affected manner 
before? No; her firm conviction was, that the poor girl 
had been so upset by the first view" of Mr. Lyle, that she 
could not restrain her feelings. This assertion made Agnes 
dry her tears, and fire up with indignation. How dared 
Aunt Sophy say such a thing ! She was always making 
some horrid insinuation against Jasper ; and it was only 
jealousy, because she had never been married herself, that 
prompted her words. 

“ Jealousy, indeed ! ” snorted Miss Macdonald. “ If an 
Englishwoman has plenty of money to give away she can 
always pick up a needy foreigner to accept it. For my 
part, I hate and distrust foreigners, and always have done 
so ; and I have no doubt that Evelyn shares my opinion, 
and is terribly disappointed in your choice. That is my 
solution of her refusal to spend the evening here.” 

“ Mamma/’ appealed Agnes to her mother, “ don’t let 
Aunt Sophy insult Jasper behind his back in this manner. 
You know that he is as much English as we are, and it is 
absurd she should take a prejudice against him because he 
has a slight French accent. My darling Evelyn would 
never be so unjust ; I am quite sure of that.” 

a Evelyn has always been the soul of honor,” replied 
Mrs. Featherstone, trying to smoothe matters ; “ and, since 
she said she felt ill, I am certain she did so. And really, 
Sophy, you are too sweeping in your strictures on Mr. 
Lyle. I like his accent ; I think it is most distingue , and 
if Agnes has no objection to it, no one else has any right to 


MOUNT EDEN. 


138 

complain. Come, my dear, kiss your aunt, and let me see 
you pleasant together. I can’t abear to have quarreling 
in the house.” 

“ I’ll tell you what I think,” said Agnes, after a pause, 
— “ and that is, that it was the sight of my happiness that 
upset poor Evelyn. Of course she couldn’t say so, the 
darling, but I saw her watching us at dinner with such a 
look of pain in her eyes, and then I remembered something 
she told me yesterday about her past life, which must have 
made the contrast almost too hard to bear.” 

“ What was it, Agnes ? ” asked her mother curiously. 

“ I can’t tell you, mamma ; I promised Evelyn I would 
tell no one. But you can understand it was the story of a 
disappointment in love ; and that is the reason she has not 
married all these years. Poor, darling Evelyn ! it must 
have raked it all up to see me so happy and proud of 
Jasper.” 

“I dare say you’re right, Agnes; but I should have 
thought Evelyn would have had more command of her 
feelings. She has always appeared such a brave, determined 
woman to me. I can hardly imagine her giving way to 
love-sick fancies. But here come the gentlemen.” 

Mr. Featherstone’s first inquiry entering the room was 
for his favorite, Evelyn. 

“ Oh, papa, she has actually gone home. She felt so ill 
she couldn’t stay any longer. Isn’t it a disappointment ? ” 
cried Agnes. 

“ I think it is more serious than that,” said Mr. Feather- 
stone anxiously. “ Evelyn Rayne is not a person to com- 
plain without cause. She must be seriously ill. One of 
you should have gone home with her.” 

“ I wanted her to stay here, but she wouldn’t hear of it,” 
replied Mrs. Featherstone. “ In fact, she was so unlike 
herself that we hardly knew her. She seemed to me on the 
point of bursting into tears, so I thought it kinder to let 
her have her own way.” 

“ You must send the first thing to-morrow morning to 
hear how she is,” said her husband ; “ or I will ride over 
after breakfast, and make the inquiries myself. I shall not 
be easy till I hear she is all right again. What should we 
do without the mistress of Mount Eden ? ” 

Jasper Lyle had not joined in the general lamentations ; 
but, as a stranger, it was, of course, not expected of him. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


139 


On the contrary, he seemed rather bored by the fuss made 
over the visitor’s departure. But as Mr. Featherstone 
uttered the last remark, he raised his head. 

“ Is this Mademoiselle Rayne the real owner of the 
place you call Mount Eden, then ? ” he asked of his 
intended father-in-law. 

“ Yes. She owns the entire property under the will of 
her late uncle, Mr. Caryll. It was an immense responsi- 
bility to lay upon the shoulders of so young a woman ; but 
Evelyn has proved herself to be quite equal to it. She is 
a little queen amongst her tenants and farm laborers, and 
they think there is no one like her. And they are right. 
I can assure you I have asked for, and thankfully received, 
many a hint from Evelyn Rayne with respect to the man- 
agement of my own acres. What do you say to the Women’s 
Rights Bill after that ? ” 

“ And she is clever, then ? ” said Lyle. 

“ She is more than clever. She 1ms a deep-thinking, 
practical head, worth two of that of most men, and she 
has devoted all her energies to her estate. Sometimes I 
have wondered — ” 

“ What, papa ? ” dertianded Agnes. 

“ Whether she has not had some latent hope or idea in 
the background to urge her to make such exertions. It 
seems almost unnatural a woman should do it for herself 
alone.” 

“ I know what her hope has been,” whispered Agnes to 
her lover ; but he turned his attention again to Mr. 
Featherstone. 

“ You have consulted this young lady about your own 
property ? ” he said ; “ is hers, then, the most valuable of 
the two ? Has she the larger experience ? ” 

The banker laughed. 

“ My dear Lyle, if you nad ever seen Mount Eden, you 
would not ask such a question. You might put my grounds 
into a corner of it. It is a magnificent estate, and was . 
purchased, I believe, by the late Mr. Caryll from the Earl 
of Runmere. It is worth fifteen thousand a year. Why, 
my little place is a pigmy beside it. And Miss Rayne has 
the absolute and unconditional control of her property. 
She is one of the richest heiresses in Great Britain.” 

“ And there were no males in the family ? ” 

“ None. Mr. Caryll lost his only son at sea, and this 


140 


MOUNT EDEN i 


girl \wls the sole comfort of his declining years. She richly 
deserved all he could give her, and he could not have 
found one to fulfil the trust more nobly. She is a perfect 
angel of a woman, and we all love her dearly.” 

Agnes and Mr. Lyle had withdrawn themselves to a 
distant sofa by this time, where their conversation could 
not be overheard by the rest of the party. 

“ I know what dear Evelyn is hoping for,” reiterated the 
girl in his ear — “ the return of some one who was very 
dear to her — a cousin whom she was engaged to, and who 
went to America. I mustn’t tell you any more, because it 
is a secret, but she says she knows he is alive, and will 
come back to her some day, and then — ” 

“ And then what ? ” demanded her lover. 

“ She will marry him of course, and give him Mount 
Eden, and they will be very, very happy. At least I hope 
so,” sighed Agnes, “because I am afraid she will never be 
happy until he does return.” 

“ Do you really think a woman could remember a man 
for as long as that — ten or eleven years ? ” questioned Mr. 
Lyle. 

“ Oh, yes, Evelyn could. She is not like other women. 
Besides, she told me so herself only yesterday. When I 
was telling her all about you, and how happy I am ; it 
made her think of Will — poor darling ; and she told me the 
whole story.” 

“Ah ! he will be a lucky fellow when he does return,” 
remarked Mr. Lyle, as he rose from the sofa and went out 
of the room. 

Presently he came back with a photograph. 

“ Can you tell me who that is, Agnes ? Have you ever 
seen the person before ? ” he said, as he placed it in her 
hand. 

She took it under the gas chandelier to examine it pro- 
perly. It represented a tall lad of eighteen or nineteen, 
with eyes that looked dark, set in a beardless face, and a 
general look of extreme juvenility. 

“ No,” she replied, shaking her head, “ never.” 

“ Are you sure? ” 

“Quite sure. Who is it? Any one about here, or 
some one I met abroad? ” 

“Some one about here, and some one, also, vbm you 
met abroad,” he answered, smiling, • as he took it back 
again. “ It represents myself.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


141 

“ You /” exclaimed Agnes, making a dash at the photo- 
graph. “ Oh, Jasper, it is impossible. It is not a bit like 
you. Do let me see it again.” 

“ No,” replied Mr. Lyle, holding it beyond her reach, 
“ it is not worth a second glance. I was only making a 
little experiment on you. An old friend who met me 
abroad declared I had altered so little he should have 
known me anywhere, whilst I flatter myself I am not the 
same man I was a few years ago. I have made you the 
umpire, and I am satisfied. I am right, and my friend is 
wrong. I am very glad of it.” 

“ But let me keep the photograph,” urged Agnes ; “ it is 
interesting to me, Jasper. I like to know what you looked 
like so many years before I knew you. I am jealous of 
those years, dear. It seems as if I had been shut out from 
them.” 

“ No, no,” replied Lyle, “ it is of no use. I do not wish 
it kept ; it is too* ugly. I don’t know why it was not 
destroyed long ago. I should be sorry to look like that 
now.” 

Thereupon ensued an amicable quarrel between the 
lovers ; Agnes Featherstone trying to regain possession of 
the photograph by force or strategem, and Jasper Lyle to 
keep it from her. At last she gave up the contest almost 
tearfully. 

“ It is too bad of you,” she pouted ; “you might let me 
have it, when I tell you it is of value to me. Why, Evelyn 
has the portraits of her cousins — especially Hugh — since 
they were little babies, and she wouldn’t part from them for 
all the world.” 

“ Has she shown them, then, to you? ” exclaimed Jasper 
Lyle quickly. 

‘Not all, perhaps — but the oil paintings hang in the 
dining-room. Oh ! why did you do that ? ” she cried, 
breaking off suddenly, as she saw him tear the photograph 
he held in two, and fling the pieces into the fire, which 
the chilly spring evenings still rendered necessary ; “ and 
when I told you I wished to keep it.” 

“And I said I did not wish you to do so,” returned 
Jasper Lyle. 

This little episode, combined with Evelyn’s departure, 
seemed to break up all the harmony of the evening, and’ 
the party retired to rest at an earlier hour than usual. 
As Mr. Lyle reached his room, he rang the bell. 


142 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Did you ring, sir ? ” inquired the servant who 
answered the summons. (By the way, 'why do servants 
invariably ask if you rung, when they have come upstairs 
because they heard the bell ? It appears to be “ servants ’ 
hall” etiquette to do so, but it is very unnecessary.) 

“ Yes,” replied Lyle, “ I want you to call me early to- 
morrow morning — quite early — at six o’clock. I am going 
for a long walk.” 

“Very good, sir,” said the man, who proved true to his 
trust, and brought up the boots and the warm water punc- 
tually to the time desired. 

Lyle dressed quickly, and went downstairs. It was a 
lovely morning — the precursor of one of the first warm 
days in May — and all Nature seemed to be alive. The 
flower-beds of Featherstone Hall had just been laid out for 
the season, and the rows of variously-tinted foliage-plants, 
from the palest velvety green to deep claret color, contrast- 
ed vividly with the white and red geraniums, and yellow 
calceolarias, and purple heliotrope with which they inter- 
mixed. Everything about the hall was perfectly organized, 
and bore the stamp of wealth ; but it was more for show 
than use. It swallowed money, but it yielded none. Yet 
it impressed most people with its magnificence, and none 
more so than the needy man who now surveyed it. 

“ And all this,” he thought, as he looked around him and 
saw the glass of the hot-houses and conservatories glisten- 
ing in the distance, and heard the “ hissing ” of the grocms 
as they attended to their charges in the stable-yard, “ all 
this is as nothing compared to the riches of Mount Eden. 
It would only occupy a little corner of it. That is what 
Mr. Featherstone said. And it is actually all hers. What 
a fool I was to be in such a hurry ! ” 

He turned and walked on rapidly, for he did not wish 
his morning stroll to be patent to all the world. When he 
had traversed about half a mile, he met a laborer, and 
stopped him. 

“ How far is it, my friend, from here to Mount Eden? ” 
“Not know Mount Eden?” grinned the rustic. “Ye 
mun be a stranger in these parts. Whoy, ye’re on Mount 
Eden ground now.” 

“ Indeed ! But where’s the house ? ” 

“ The big house ? That’s a matter o’ a mile further on. ” 
“A mile? And do these fields belong to the estate, 
then?” 


MOUNT EDEN 


M3 

“ Aye, aye ; on either soide, and as fur as ye loike to 
look, and further than ye’ll care to walk. It’s a foine* 
estate, Mount Eden — the foinest in all Hampshire.” 

“ And will this road lead me to the house ? ” 

“ Aye, aye ! Go on straight till yer come to the cross 
roads, and the left ’ull take ye up the drive gates. That’s 
it, master.” 

“ Thank you, my man,” said Lyle, as he commenced to 
walk briskly on. 

The rustic looked at his empty palm, and scratched his 
head. 

“ Any ’un could tell V was a furriner,” he soliloquized, 
as he trudged on again. “ An English gentleman would ha’ 
known that a feller would feel dry arter all that talking.” 

Meanwhile Jasper Lyle pressed forward till he reached 
the drive gates of Mount Eden, which were guarded by a 
pretty Gothic lodge. A woman came out whilst he was loi- 
tering there, and asked him if he wanted to see any one up 
at the big house. 

“ I should like to walk through the grounds,” he said, 
“ if you think Miss Rayne would have no objection. I 
have the honor of her acquaintance,” he added. 

The woman smiled pleasantly. 

“ Oh, I am sure, sir, if you’re a friend of Miss Rayne’s, 
she would have no objection in the world. It’s a good 
step up to the house, but you can’t miss it if you go straight 
on.” 

And she held the gate open for him to pass through as 
she spoke. 

The approach to Mount Eden lay through wooded and 
park-like grounds, where the thick carpet of ferns served 
as a covert for the fallow deer that sprung up every now 
and then at the sound of the stranger’s step. This was the 
front approach. The back entrance lay through that nur- 
sery of firs and larches, where John Vernon had first met 
Miss Rayne, with her hands full of violets. 

Evelyn preferred trees and ferns to flowers. She had a 
few beds laid out close to the house, but when she wished 
to wander by herself, and think over the business that en- 
grossed her mind, she invariably chose the park, with its 
soothing shade — the sound of the singing of birds, and the 
scent of the freshly-trampled ferns— in preference to her 
flower garden. Everything seemed too bright and gaudy 


144 


MOUNT EDEN. 


there to be in sympathy with sombre thoughts, and Eve- 
lyn’s thoughts had always been more serious than gay. 

As Jasper Lyle walked through the park road, the sud- 
den bound of a fawn, or the rush of a rabbit, would make 
him start, and look furtively around. He did not want to 
meet the mistress of Mount Eden until she invited him to 
do so. Curiosity had drawn him to view her estate ; but 
he did not wish Miss Rayne to think him either imperti- 
nent or obtrusive. So he picked his way cautiously, until 
he came in sight of the big house, when he slipped behind 
a tree, and surveyed it at his leisure. In his eyes it seemed 
to be the most beautiful place he had ever seen. It was a 
long, low building of grey stone, supported by white por- 
ticos and pillars, somewhat in the Italian style of architec- 
ture, and ornamented on the southern side with a large 
orangery, which gave it an un-English-like appearance. A 
circular lawn, shaded by cedar and mulberry trees, lay in 
the front; whilst from the back, a wide terrace, with balus- 
trades, led down to the flower garden. On one side stood 
the stables and coach-houses, well concealed from view by 
spreading horse-chestnut trees, now in full blossom; whilst 
on the other, the walled-in fruit and vegetable garden, 
with its long line of forcing-houses, served as a boundary 
for the dairy and poultry farm, which was situated just 
beyond. Bachelor’s Hall was not to be seen from this 
point of view. It lay a quarter of a mile in the rear, close 
to the pheasant preserves, and was as secluded as if no big 
house were in existence. Mr. Lyle stood behind the friend- 
ly tree for a long time, surveying the evidences of luxury 
and comfort by which he was surrounded. 

“ Fifteen thousand a year, and this estate,” he thought, 
as he drew a long breath, “and all in her own hands. It 
makes me sick to think of it. I deserve to be killed for 
having thrown away my chances in this manner. She recog- 
nized me — I am certain of it. I knew it directly I met 
her eyes, and it was on that account that she returned 
home. Now, the question is, how did my presence affect 
her? I should have had no doubt on the Subject if it had 
not been for what Agnes told me. I never dreamt that 
Evelyn could have remembered such a boy and girl affair 
— the veriest shadow of a courtship. But if she does, what 
then ? I think I know what women are by this time, and 
can pretty well calculate the effects of an interview. At 


MOUNT EDEN. 


MS 

all events I’ll try it. And in any case it would be neces- 
sary, for I must secure her friendship and good services 
with the Featherstones. Suppose she should betray me? 
No ! That is impossible ! ” 

At this moment, a kind of vision seemed to pass before 
his mental eyes, and silently repeat the word “ impossible ! ” 
Only the picture of a young girl dressing him in her own 
clothes, and pressing her money to the last farthing upon 
his acceptance, and parting from him with straining eyes 
and quivering lips, but brave to the last, for fear of a be- 
trayal. It made him shudder as he recalled it, and feel as 
if he had been guilty of treachery, but it relieved his mind. 
The Evelyn who had been his salvation in the years gone 
by would not turn against him now. And he resolved to 
put her courage and determination once more to the test. 
He left his hiding-place ( when he had satisfied himself 
that the extent of the property had not been exaggerated 
to him), and began to take his way back to Featherstone 
Hall. How small and mean everything about it appeared, 
in comparison with the statelier grandeur of Mount Eden. 
He felt as if he despised the “ ribbon ” floriculture, and the 
very young trees and bushes, and all the signs of a newly- 
acquired wealth that lay about the Hall. He had thought 
it magnificent on his first arrival. Now, side by side with 
the other estate — the estate which should have been his — 
it appeared superficial and tricky. He curled his lip with 
contempt as he passed through the elaborately laid-out 
flower garden, with its white statues and urns, and its wire- 
work arches of roses and clematis, into the breakfast-room. 
It was nine o’clock by this time, and all the family were 
assembled there, wondering why he did not join them. 

“ Oh, Jasper ! ” cried Agnes, rising to receive him, 
“ where have you been ? We have sent up twice to your 
room to tell you that breakfast was ready.” 

“ John could have told you that I had gone for a walk 
this morning, Agnes. Your English hours rather upset 
my habits. In Italy we rise early, and seek the morning 
air before the sun becomes too hot, and I do not know 
what to do with myself after the day breaks.” 

“ Dear me,” said Mrs. Featherstone, “ if you had only 
said so, Mr. Lyle, I would have ordered breakfast to be 
prepared earlier on your account. You must not go out 
another morning fasting.” 


146 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ And if you had told me , Jasper,” added Agnes reproach- 
fully, “I would have gone too. I should love to take a 
morning walk with you. Shall you go out every morning ? ” 

“ I do not know, cherie, but I am at your service when- 
ever you command it. But suppose (now I am here) that 
you give me some breakfast. The air has made me 
hungry.” 

“ But where have you been? ” urged Agnes. 

Lyle shrugged his shoulders after the French fashion. 

“ How can I tell you ? Every road is strange to me 
about here, and they all look the same. I walked through 
beautiful green fields, and by hedges of wild flowers, such 
as are to be found nowhere but in your happy England — 
that is all I know.” 

“ But did you go to the right or the left after you turned 
out of the drive gates? ” persisted Agnes. 

“ Well, really,” interposed Miss Macdonald, “ I think it 
becomes quite indelicate, Agnes, to question a gentleman 
in that pertinacious manner. How do you know that Mr. 
Lyle has not his own reasons for keeping silence on the 
subject ? If he had wished for your interference he would 
have acquainted you with his design.” 

“Oh, rubbish!” cried Agnes irreverently; “what can 
you know about it, Aunt Sophy. As if Jasper would ever 
have any secrets from me. As if it can be of any conse- 
quence where he walked — excepting that I wish to know.” 

“You should go over to Mount Eden if you want a nice 
morning walk,” said Mrs. Featherstone ; “ the approach 
through the park is beautiful, and there is a charming dell 
in the middle of it.” 

“ Fairy dell ! Oh, it’s the loveliest little spot,” said 
Agnes. “ Jasper, you must let me take you there. It was 
there I first met my darling Evelyn, and she was crying.” 

“ Can the owner of Mount Eden possibly have anything 
to cry for? ” demanded Mr. Lyle. 

“ Indeed she had ; though I was only a little child at the 
time, and knew nothing about it. But she was very 
unhappy when she first came to live with her uncle, and I 
don’t think she ever liked him much. Who could ? He 
was such a nasty, grumpy old man.” 

“ You shouldn’t say that, Agnes,” remarked Mr. Feather- 
stone reprovingly. “ Mr. Caryll was a very unhappy and 
disappointed man, and that is enough to make people 
seem (what you call) ‘ grumpy.’ ” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


147 


“ Well, papa, he never made Evelyn happy ; and she 
couldn’t love him because he had been so unjust and 
unkind to her Cousin Will.” 

“ A good-for-nothing rascal, who first forged his uncle’s 
name and embezzled his money, and then bolted to 
America, or somewhere. I don’t think Evelyn can have 
any sympathy with a fellow like that. She is too good and 
upright herself.” 

“Evelyn never told me that her cousin had done anything 
wrong” said Agnes, with solemn eyes. “ She has never 
said a word against him, so perhaps she doesn’t know it, 
or it may not be true.” 

“ It is true,” replied her father. “ All Liverpool knew 
the story ; and if the young rascal hadn’t got away, the 
firm would have prosecuted him for the offence. And I 
expect that Evelyn knows all about it into the bargain, but 
the boy was of her own blood, and so she hides his delin- 
quencies from the world. Quite right, too — Evelyn all 
over. She is nothing if she is not loyal.” 

“ Did you ever see the young man you speak of, Mr. 
Featherstone ? ” demanded Lyle quietly. 

“ Never, my dear Lyle, nor did I want to do so. He 
was only a junior clerk in Caryll’s office, — a boy who ran 
errands and swept out the place, — and my wonder is how 
he ever had the assurance to commit such a crime. How- 
ever, it has long since been forgotten, and Agnes should 
not rake up such unpleasant subjects.” 

No one continued the conversation, and. as soon as 
breakfast was over, Lyle escaped to his own room. 

“ It is growing too warm for me,” he thought. “ My exist- 
ence is not forgotten, and Evelyn still speaks of me to 
strangers. I must find out at once if she means to be my 
* friend or my enemy.” 

And so he sat down and wrote a few lines to the mistress 
of Mount Eden, which he bribed a groom to carry over to 
her in the course of the day. 


MOUNT EDEN 


148 


CHAPTER XVI. 
a hope’s fruition. 

Meanwhile, Evelyn Rayne had passed through a night 
full of restless and variable emotion. She hardly knew if 
she were miserable or happy. She felt as if she were 
being torn in pieces with the ’contention of her feelings, and 
the shock she had experienced had unsettled her reason. 
To have hoped, and prayed, and remembered, and trusted 
for ten long years, and then to have realized the fruition 
of her prayers in so startling and unexpected a manner. It 
was enough to make any woman feel as if she were going 
out of her mind. She sat on the side of her bed, with both 
hands pressed tightly against her throbbing head as she 
tried to disentangle and arrange her thoughts, and review 
the situation in which she found herself, with some degree 
of calmness. Will was alive — that was the first truth with 
which she had to become familiar. He had not died (as 
she had so often feared) alone and friendless in some far 
off jungle, with no familiar face near him to soothe his last 
moments. He had lived, and apparently prospered, and 
he had — -forgotten her ! What had he been doing all this 
while? Where had he been hiding? How came he to 
appear before her without a word of warning, in the garb 
of a gentleman — honored, flattered, and received as one 
of themselves into the bosom of the family of her most 
intimate friends ? 

Here a sudden revulsion of feeling took hold of her, 
and she was ready to reverse all her former opinions, and 
to declare that she had been utterly mistaken. She 
must have been mistaken. She had been led away 
by a chance resemblance. It could?i't be Will. Mr. 
Jasper Lyle — who had been reared in Italy until he 
had nearly forgotten his mother tongue, who was a man 
of means and education, who was engaged to be married 
to Agnes Featherstone, and who had placed himself in 
Evelyn’s path without a shadow of distrust or fear — the 


MOUNT EDEN 


149 


same person as her Cousin Will who had absconded from 
England, branded with felony ? It was impossible. Why 
poor Will would have been afraid to put his foot within 
twenty miles of Mount Eden, until he knew it would be 
safe to do so. The idea was too wild to be entertained for 
a moment. Then what was it that had so upset her, and 
filled her mind with sick misgivings that appeared 
incontrovertible ? 0?ie look from Mr. Lyle’s eyes across 
the dinner-table. One look, during which his soul and 
hers had seemed to gaze at one another through open 
windows, and to reveal everything which the convention- 
alities of the world had hitherto concealed. One look, 
during which her little friend’s fia?ice and the stranger- 
guest had entirely disappeared, and she stood alone with 
Will Caryll and the unforgotten past. That was what had 
made her head whirl and her brain spin, and sent her back 
to Mount Eden in a state bordering on delirium. But 
when she came seriously to review her feelings and their 
cause, her calmer reason made her doubt the justness 
of her decision. Perhaps the sight of Agnes’ happiness, 
and the fact that it had made her speak of Will, may have 
conjured up a likeness that existed only in her own imagin- 
ation. For (when she came to consider it) Mr. Lyle was 
not a bit like her missing cousin — except in the eyes and 
nose. It was true that she couldn’t see his mQuth, and 
his forehead was pretty well concealed by the fashion in 
which he wore his long, wavy hair, and his figure would 
(under any circumstances) have altered with the interven- 
ing years ; but would Will even have ventured to return 
to England without giving her warning of his intention? 
Evelyn had always believed he would come back some 
day. She had pictured receiving a letter written from some 
distant, foreign place telling how he had prospered (or 
otherwise), and asking if it would be safe for him to show 
his face in Hampshire, and if he were sure of a welcome 
there. And she had meant to write him back — oh, such 
a lovingly reproachful letter, telling him of all that had 
occurred during his absence, and begging him to hasten 
home and share Mount Eden with her, for there was no 
fear of his crime being brought home to him then. Mr. 
Caryll had been the head of the firm whose monies the 
young miscreant had embezzled, and the forged cheques 
had been returned to his hands, He had retained them, 


MOUNT EDEN. 


150 

intending to hold them in terror em over the head of his 
nephew in case he ever presumed to ask assistance of him 
again ; and when he died Evelyn had found them (as had 
been said) amongst his private papers. She had not 
destroyed them even- then. She had dreamt — silly woman 
— of a happy moment when she might see her husband 
destroy them with his own hand, and fold her in a grateful 
embrace directly afterwards. As she recalled it, the hot 
tears trickled from her eyes and ran through her clasped 
fingers. It was of no use fighting against her internal con- 
viction. If Mr. Lyle were not her Cousin Will, he was 
so like him that she felt as if she could never be easy in 
his presence again. Yet, though she had passed the night 
in arguing with herself, and trying to account for the 
delusion which seemed to have fastened on her, Evelyn 
rose as puzzled what to believe as when she retired to 
rest, and ill and harassed by the uncertainty. It was her 
usual custom to have her saddle horse brought to the door 
at nine o’clock each morning, and to ride round the farm 
and the premises in company with Captain Philip. These 
rides were a source of both pleasure and profit to her. 
They enabled her to become acquainted with every rood 
of her estate — to superintend the agricultural operations to 
the farthest extent of it, and to let her farm laborers and 
tenantry know that the eye of a master was over them at 
all times. And she greatly enjoyed the conversations she 
held with Captain Philip the while. Although her senses 
were keen, and she possessed remarkable powers of com- 
prehension and judgment, Evelyn was not too proud to 
learn, nor too conceited to be aware, that her land-agent 
knew a great deal more than herself. So that these morn- 
ing rides, which took place with scarcely any intermission 
throughout the year, were looked forward to by both of 
them, and it was quite a subject of wonder when Miss 
Rayne sent her horse round to the stables again on this 
particular morning, with a message to Captain Philip that 
she was tired, and did not intend to accompany him. 
The Captain’s face fell a couple of inches when the 
message was delivered. 

“.Not going out? ” he repeated blankly to the groom in 
attendance ; “ why, what’s the matter with her ? ” 

“I don’t know as there’s anythink the matter with the 
missus, sir,” was the reply. <f Only the maid says she 
feels tired-like, and don’t want to ride on horseback.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


151 

11 It’s very strange — very unlike her,” muttered the cap- 
tain, pulling his moustaches. “ Why we were to have seen 
the men digging the new decoy this morning. Well,” with 
a quickly-checked sigh, “ I suppose I must go by my- 
self.” 

And he turned his horse’s head, and went very slowly 
and thoughtfully down the long drive. 

When he had quite disappeared, Evelyn was half sorry 
she had refused to accompany him. 

“ After all,” she thought, as she commenced to busy 
herself about the house, “ thinking won’t solve the mystery. 
I must wait the course of events. Most probably I have 
been frightening myself with a bogie of my own creation. 
I should have gone out with Captain Philip, and blown my 
absurd fancies away.” 

She walked up to her private sitting-room, and, unlocking 
the drawer of an old marquetrie cabinet, turned out its 
contents into her lap. They were not very numerous, but 
they had been her dearest treasures for many years past. 
There were a dozen letters, perhaps, scrawled in an 
unformed, boyish handwriting, a battered fusee-box, a pair 
of soiled kid gloves, several bunches of dried flowers, and 
a couple of photographs. It was these last mementos of 
her cousin that Evelyn was in search of. One of them was 
a duplicate of the picture that Jasper Lyle had thrown 
into the fire at Featherstone Hall, and was as totally 
unlike his present appearance as anything could well be. 
Taken by a third-rate photographer, and at an age when a 
lad seldom displays any of the characteristics of feature 
and expression that change with his growth, and individu- 
alize his fuller manhood, it bore no resemblance whatever 
to Mr. Lyle, and Evelyn smiled as she held it in her hand. 

“ Yes, that is my own dear Will,” she thought, “just as 
he looked before he yielded to that terrible temptation, and 
drove all the courage and manliness out of his face. But 
how could I have ever imagined that Mr. Lyle resembled 
him ? I have been dreaming. They are not in the least 
alike.” . 

The smile actually came back to her lips, and the light 
to her eyes, as she scanned the photograph, and after she 
had regarded it earnestly for several minutes, she kissed it 
and everything else in the drawer. 

“ His dear gloves ! ” she murmured. “ I remember the 


I 5 2 


MOUNT EDEN. 


very day he put them on, and how I scolded him for buying 
such an extravagant color as lavender. And his poor, 
little, battered fusee-case, which he forgot to take with him ! 
Poor darling, he was too frightened to think of anything 
but his chances of escape on that terrible night. Ah, Will,” 
with a heavy sigh, “ how happy we might have been for 
all these years, had you only been more strong.” 

She took up the other photograph, which represented 
her cousin at an earlier age, with his head held down, and 
his eyes looking up, but threw it from her quickly. Some- 
thing in the attitude and expression (though taken some 
years before the other) reminded her of Mr. Lyle, when 
they had gazed in each other’s eyes the night before. 

“ I am growing nervous again,” she said, with a faint 
laugh. “ This is too much of a good thing. I shall fancy 
I see uncle’s ghost walk into the room next, or something 
equally sensible. I must shake myself together, and repress 
my too vivid imagination with some hard work.” 

She locked the drawer, with its contents, as she spoke, 
and rose to leave the room. But on the threshold her 
maid, Anna, confronted her with a sealed letter. 

“ From the ’All, Miss,” she said, with Arcadian simpli- 
city, as she delivered it. 

Evelyn turned it over with a trembling hand. It was 
not from Agnes, nor from any one with whose writing she 
was familiar. 

“ Who brought this ? ” she demanded nervously. 

“One of the Featherstone helpers, Miss. The foreign 
gentleman, Mr. Lyle, gave it to him, and he was to wait 
for an answer.” 

“ Very good, Anna. You can leave me. I will ring 
when my answer is ready,” replied Evelyn, in jerky, discon- 
nected sentences, as she walked away from the servant’s 
observation. 

But as soon as the door had closed upon Anna, she tore 
the letter open vehemently. What did it contain of good 
or ill for her ? Here was, at least, she felt, the contradic- 
tion or confirmation of her suspicions, and she must know 
the truth at once. The first word told her all. 

“ I see that you have recognized me, and feel that my 
future lies in your hands. When can I see you, and explain 
everything? Grant me an early interview, and, for the 
sake of the past, keep silence until we have met. I have 
so much to tell you and to ask your pity for.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


153 


That was all — no address and no signature, but he knew 
she would need neither to convince her of his individuality. 
As Evelyn read the words and saw the arguments with 
which she had tried to combat her own conviction of the 
truth crumble into dust before them, she was conscious of 
only one thing — that she must see him face to face, and 
learn everything he had to tell her. She stumbled like a 
woman walking in her sleep to her writing-table, and scrib- 
bling on a sheet of paper, “ This afternoon, at three o'clock,” 
she put it in an envelope, sealed and addressed it to Mr. 
Jasper Lyle, and rang the bell for Anna. 

“ Here is my answer,” she said calmly ; “ send the groom 
back to the Hall with it at once, and tell him to deliver it 
without delay to Mr. Lyle. And should any one else ask 
for me, Anna, this morning say that I am busy, and cannot 
be disturbed ; and do not come back yourself unless I ring 
for you.” 

She watched the maid take the note, and when she had 
disappeared, she rose and deliberately locked the door 
after her, and then, flinging herself down upon the sofa, she 
fell into an abandonment of grief. All her sophistries, her 
arguments, her self-deception were of no avail now. She 
knew for a fact that she had not been mistaken, and that 
her lover, William Caryll, and she had actually stood face 
to face again ; that the trembling criminal whom she had 
assisted to evade the law had ventured to return into the 
very jaws of the lion — no longer trembling nor dependent, 
but holding up his head as though he were entitled to 
universal respect, as the future husband of Agnes Feather- 
stone. Evelyn was a faithful and loving woman, but she 
was also a very proud one, and Agnes was one of the 
deepest affections of her life. She possessed the courage 
which would have made her spurn all the conventionalities 
of the world, to unite her own lot with that of a man who 
was known to be guilty, so long as he had remained true to 
her. But when she thought of her pure and innocent 
Agnes, who was almost a child in years and experience, 
being linked for life (unknowingly) to a forger , all her sense 
of right and justice rose up to prevent it. Will Caryll 
creeping back to her feet for forgiveness (however long the 
silence and separation that lay between them), would have 
been welcomed like the prodigal son in the Scriptures, and 
laden with the best gifts her means could afford him. But 


154 


MOUNT EDEN. 


Jasper Lyle, taking advantage of the ignorance of her 
friends to become the betrothed of their daughter : pre- 
suming (with that disgraceful past behind him) to link his 
pretended name with one that had never been dishonored, 
and to flaunt his undeserved happiness and prosperity in 
her face — that was quite another thing. Every woman 
will understand the feelings of burning indignation and 
mortified pride with which Evelyn recalled such facts. 
They dried up her tears to their very source, and made 
her ashamed that she had given way to them. What was 
needed now was courage and action ; not weak sentiment 
for an unworthy past. She had thought she should need 
hours of solitude to brace herself for the proposed inter- 
view, but as the truth forced itself on her consideration, 
she determined that Will Caryll, or Jasper Lyle, or what- 
ever he chose to call himself, should never guess now how 
many tears she had shed during his absence, but meet her 
as a judge to whom he was bound to give an account of 
himself. Anna, who had informed the parlor-maid that 
the mistress’s head “ seemed very bad, and she didn’t think 
as how she’d come down to luncheon,” was surprised to 
see her descend at the sound of the gong, serene and com- 
posed as usual, and attired with more than the attention 
she ordinarily bestowed upon her toilet. It is true that 
she didn’t make a hearty meal, and that more than once, 
as her rebellious thoughts flew backward, her lip quivered, 
and she was forced to swallow some obstacle that seemed 
to have risen in her throat, but she sternly repressed all 
symptoms of emotion, and compelled herself to take what 
she considered necessary to maintain -her fortitude. When 
the meal was over she returned to the room that held the 
marquetrie cabinet, and directed Anna, when Mr. Lyle 
arrived, to show him up there. And then she stood, a tall, 
graceful figure, robed in black silk, gazing from the window 
that looked out upon the park, watching for the advent of 
Will Caryll. 

When she saw him from a long distance off, riding slowly 
up the avenue, she turned very white, and shuddered. 
The shock of discovery that Will had actually returned 
was over, but now came the pain of standing face to face 
with him, with the full knowledge that it was he. For a 
moment, a spark of the old tenderness revived in Evelyn’s 
breast, and she felt as if she were about to meet her lover ; 


MOUNT EDEN. 


155 


but with the next recollection poured back upon her like a 
flood, and she was conscious only of the fact that Jasper 
Lyle had dared to aspire to the hand of Agnes Feathepetone. 
At that thought she commenced to walk rapidly up and 
down the room, as though to try and walk off her indigna- 
tion, lest, before his mouth was opened, she should have 
said words she could never recall. She was still in rapid 
motion when Anna announced Mr. Lyle, and her cousin 
entered the room. He looked very humble and crestfallen 
as she first caught sight of him, but as soon as the door 
had closed behind him and they were alone, he plucked up 
courage and advanced towards her. 

“ Eve ! ” he exclaimed, holding out both his hands, 
“ my dear cousin Eve, and so you actually knew me I 
You found me out — ” 

But Evelyn bid not make any attempt to grasp the prof- 
fered hands. She stood still where she had been when he 
entered — her handsome face and figure relieved by the 
dark background of the marque trie cabinet. 

“ Yes,” she answered, looking him full in the face, “ I 
have found you out, Will ; and my only wonder is, how you 
can ever have expected to hide yourself from me under 
the flimsy veil of dyed hair, an assumed name, and false 
antecedents.” 

“ I never thought we should be brought in contact, Eve. 
It was not till I arrived in Hampshire that I learned that 
Featherstone Hall and Mount Eden were within a stone’s 
throw of each other, and that my friends were so intimate 
with you. When I did hear it, I hoped that the length of 
time we have been separated, and the alteration in my 
speech and appearance, were sufficient to permit me to 
pass as a stranger with you until the time came for a con- 
fession of the truth, for I had no intention of concealing 
my identity from you for ever, Eve. I should have made 
myself known to you, by-and-bye, but I did not imagine 
your sight would be so keen.” 

“ Or my memory so retentive,” she replied sarcastically ; 
“ I can understand that. You judged me by yourself, but 
you were mistaken, Will, and now that further disguise 
between us is useless, I must have an explanation from 
you. How long is it since you returned from America, and 
why do I find you masquerading under an assumed name at 
Featherstone Hall? ” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


* 5<5 

William Caryll began to resent his cousin’s manner 
towards him. He had always been of a weak and irritable 
disposition, that carped against authority or fault-finding, 
and, half forgetful of the past, he was fool enough to lose 
sight of his danger in the present, so he asked her, sulkily, 
what business it was of hers. 

“ It is my business, as I will soon prove to you,” returned 
Evelyn spiritedly. “ Do you suppose I am going to be a 
party to your deception? To meet my cousin, knowing 
who he is, and what he is — in the house of my most inti- 
mate friends, day after day, and pretend to think he is a 
stranger? You don’t know me yet, Will Caryll, or you 
would not have asked me that question.” 

“ Do you mean to say you will betray me ? ” he cried 
in alarm. 

“ I do not know yet what I shall do, Will. I have not 
made up my mind. I am waiting to hear, first, what 
account you can give me of yourself. For ten years you 
have kept total silence between us. Now, I must know 
all — all ! ” 

And Evelyn clenched her teeth together as she spoke. 

“ I will tell you all — everything,” he rejoined deprecat- 
ingly ; “ I will not conceal a single fact from you, if you 
will only stand my friend. You ought to be my friend, 
Evelyn, not only for the sake of the past, but because you 
can afford to be so, for, if it hadn’t been for that cursed 
piece of boyish stupidity of mine, you would not be the 
owner of this magnificent place to-day. You must know 
that, and I think you owe me something for having helped 
you to it.” , 

“ I am not aware that I have ever proved less than your 
friend,” replied Evelyn, as she bit her quivering lip. “ Had 
I not done so, you would not be standing before me now.” 

“ That is just it ! ” he exclaimed, taking advantage of 
her evident emotion. “ You were so fond of me, dear, and 
helped me so kindly in the days gone by, that I feel sure you 
will not do less for me in the present.” 

Evelyn cast him one look of disdain from her superb eyes, 
and motioned him to a seat. 

“ Sit down,” she said, “and tell me ail the truth. We 
can settle nothing till I am in full possession of it.” 

“ But may I not tell you first,” he pleaded, “ how glad 
I am to see you ? You mustn’t think I had forgotten you, 


MOUNT EDEN. 


157 


Eve, or anything you did for me ; but I little thought we 
should ever meet again, and I hardly recognized you at the 
first glance. You have altered tremendously. You are so 
— so very much improved. You are quite a handsome 
woman, Eve, but I always prophesied you would be, didn’t 
I?” 

Her lip curled. 

“ I really don’t remember, Will, and it is of little conse- 
quence if you did. But this has nothing to do with the 
matter in hand. How is it that I have found you at Fea- 
therstone Hall ? ” 

“You want to know,” he replied, looking and feeling 
very small, “ why and how I am here, and call myself 
Jasper Lyle instead of William Caryll ? It is very simple, 
and easily told. When I went out to America, ten years 
ago, I worked at anything and everything, so long as it put 
bread in my mouth. I was a porter, a bootblack, and a 
waiter by turns. I sold tickets at a skating rink, and 
chopped wood for the winter, until, after a year or so, 
chance took me down to the Southern States, where I be- 
came the personal attendant of a planter called Lyle. He 
was very rich, very old, and a great invalid. He found I 
had been born and brought up to be something better 
than a servant, and he took a fancy for me, and treated me 
as a friend and companion. I lived with him for three 
years, and then he died, and left me five thousand pounds. 
I purchased an annuity with it— adopted his name — and 
went to Italy, where I have lived ever since, not knowing 
how far it might be safe for me to return to England. That 
is the whole of the story.” 

“ And you never wrote me one line/’ said Evelyn 
reproachfully. “You left me to suppose that you were 
dead, or in want and poverty, whilst you were living the 
life of a gentleman in Italy. You have not shown much 
consideration for my feelings, Will.” 

“ Well,” he answered uneasily, “ what would you have 
had me do? How was I to know you would care to hear 
from me ? I had left England under a cloud, and I thought 
the best thing was to let the matter die out. Letters are 
very dangerous, you know. I could never tell into whose 
hands they might fall, nor (with so vindictive an old fellow 
as Uncle Roger) what might not be the consequence of 
their miscarriage. I believe, if I had escaped to heaven, 
he would have tried to hunt me out of it again.” 


i 5 8 


MOUNT EDEN 


“You are wrong ! ” cried Evelyn; “ Uncle Roger was 
neither mean nor revengeful. I think he behaved most 
generously to you, Will. It was the firm that decided to 
prosecute you, and the firm still exists. Poor uncle never 
said an unjust word against you to the day of his death. 

I am witness to that.” 

“ But he never left me anything,” said Will Caryll. “ He 
gave you the whole of this valuable estate without a thought 
of me, who was just as much related to him as you were. 
He might have halved it whilst he was about it. I consider 
it was a great injustice, and that I have every right to 
execrate his memory.” 

Evelyn bit her lip again to prevent uttering the retort 
that rose to her tongue. 

“ He had a right to do what he thought fit with his own,” 
she said, after a pause, “ and he did it of his free will. I 
had no idea, till the will was read, that I should inherit 
more than a mere maintenance. But to return to the old 
subject. If you wished to preserve your incognito, what 
on earth made you venture so near to Mount Eden? 
Surely you had heard of Uncle Roger’s death, and that I 
reigned here in his stead? ” 

“You know the reason,” he replied moodily. “I met 
the Featherstones in Rome, and became engaged to Agnes. 
For some time no allusion was made to you or Mount 
Eden. When it was, it was too late for me to draw back 
on that account, or to refuse to accompany them to the 
Hall. So I trusted to your not recognizing me, or at all 
events till my position should be assured amongst them, 
as it soon will be now.” 

“ What do you mean by your position being assured 
amongst them ? ” demanded Evelyn coldly. 

“ I mean until after my marriage, which will take place 
in a few weeks. Agnes and I are much attached to one 
another, and love will not brook much delay, so we expect 
to be able to coax the old people to let the wedding take 
place in July. And after that, you see, all danger will be 
over for me, for Mr. Featherstone would do anything 
sooner than let a shadow of blame rest on his daughter’s 
husband.” 

He spoke lightly of his approaching happiness, as if no 
word or thought of love had ever passed between him and 
the woman he was addressing. But Evelyn’s mind was 


MOUNT EDEN. 


159 


fixed on the scared criminal she had helped at the risk of 
her own safety to escape the hands of justice, and his 
effrontery (or his forgetfulness) fanned the desire for 
revenge that had arisen in her breast. 

“And do you suppose/’ she exclaimed, advancing upon 
him with eyes of fire, “ do you imagine for a moment that 
I intend to stand by quietly and see you marry Agnes 
Featherstone without making one sign — she, who is my 
dearest friend — the creature I love best in all the world — - 
and you — a forger ? ” 

“Hush! hush!” he cried in alarm, “it is not true. It 
was all a mistake. I told you so. I never did it. It was 
a malicious lie. There are no proofs.” 

“ There are proofs, Will Caryll, and / hold them. The 
cheques to which you forged Uncle Roger’s name were 
returned to him after your departure, and he retained 
them. The firm wished to prosecute you, but in deference 
to his name (and perhaps to his wishes, I cannot tell) they 
gave up their intention. But he kept the proofs of your 
felony, and, after his death, they fell into my hands, and I 
have them still. I have but to send them to Messrs. Tyn- 
dal & Masters, with the information of your return, to have 
you arrested for forgery. And before you shall marry 
Agnes Featherstone, I will do soT 

William Caryll turned white with fear. 

“But you will not,” he pleaded ; “you could never be 
so cruel, Eve.” 

“ How could I justify myself in acting otherwise? ” she 
retorted. “ Will, you don’t know what Agnes is to me. 
For years past (ever since you left me) she has been my 
greatest comfort and my greatest pleasure. I have loved 
her above every earthly thing. I do so still. She has 
been like an idolized child or younger sister to me. I have 
thought of her, and worked for her. I have even dreamt 
sometimes (since there seems no chance now of our Cousin 
Hugh ever turning up again) of making her the inheritress 
of this property, when I have to leave it behind me. And 
do you think I will see her thrown away upon you; leave 
Mount Eden to her children and yours ? Never. I will 
burn it to the ground with my own hands first.” 

She was grand in her outraged love and her care for her 
young friend,' and the man cowered before her. He saw 
that his fate lay in her hands, and he could not think at 


MOUNT EDEN 


i6o 

first what arguments to use in order to avert it. Then 
suddenly he thought of her former love for him — of her 
present love for Agnes. Surely these were weapons that 
should not miss their mark, and he was cowardly enough 
to use them. 

“ You have forgotten, then,” he said slowly, “ the protes- 
tations of affection you made for me in the days gone by, 
Eve ; the vows you registered to stand my friend forever ? 
If I remember rightly, you sealed that promise by an 
appeal to God over your dead mother’s grave. You seem 
to think very lightly of such things. And we even agreed, 
I think, that whichever of us came into Mount Eden was 
to share it with the other. You have got it all, Eve, and 
yet you are not satisfied — yet you would grudge me my 
little prospect of comfort. You are sadly altered from 
what you were in the olden days.” 

“ Don’t speak of them,” she answered, in a muffled voice. 

“ But I must speak of them,” he said, thinking he had 
gained an advantage over her. “ You have blamed me for 
not having written to you. It was not from want of 
affection, Eve. I know that, in the hurry of departure, I 
promised to do so, but when I came to reflect, I recognized 
the danger I should run, and saw that the indulgence of 
my inclinations might cast me back upon your hands — a 
criminal — and then you would suffer as well as myself. 
And so I determined to bear my burden alone, and leave 
you to a happier existence. And my plan has succeeded, 
Eve. You are wealthy and prosperous, and can afford to 
be generous. Leave me that which can neither harm nor 
benefit you — my benefactor’s name, and the hand of Agnes 
Featherstone.” 

“ Never /” she repeated vehemently; “I grudge you 
nothing except that , Will. If you are independent, and 
(comparatively speaking) able to hold up your head 
amongst your fellow-men, I am glad of it, for your sake. 
But I will be no party to deception. I will not be called 
upon to extend the hand of fellowship to Jasper Lyle, 
when I know him to be William Cary 11. You must give 
up Agnes. It is my sole condition of silence.” 

“ I cannot give her up,” he replied despondently ; what 
excuse can I offer for breaking off my engagement ? The 
girl loves me, and her family approve of the marriage. To 
draw back now would be an act of dishonor.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


161 


“ It- would be far more dishonorable to marry her with' 
out telling her the truth. And if you tell her the truth she 
will be the first to dismiss you. Take your choice, Will, 
but my mind is made up.” 

“ You will betray my secret ? ” 

“ I will not let Agnes Featherstone marry my cousin, 
believing him to be an honorable and upright man. I have 
already told you so. I should be as bad as you are if I 
agreed to it.” 

“ Then all my hopes of happiness are over,” said Will 
Caryll bitterly ; “ and it is your hand that has crushed 
them, Eve. Oh, how altered you have become since the 
old days, when we were friends together ! I-s it possible 
you are the same girl whose chief aim in life was to secure 
my happiness ? Do you remember the scoldings you used 
to get from your aunt for working and watching for me ; 
and how you used to brave her anger to make me com- 
fortable ? Have you forgotten the Sunday evenings we 
spent walking about the cemetery and talking of the time 
when we should live together ? And those last miserable 
days, Eve, when you were so good and kind to me, and 
dressed me in your own clothes, and we were too frightened 
and unhappy even to laugh at the figure of fun I cut in 
them ? Have you forgotten all this ? ” 

Ah ! she had not forgotten it — far from it. She had 
been keeping up bravely until then, — indignation and 
resentment having .given her courage, — but when Will 
spoke of the old days, and she remembered how she had 
valued his affection, and how much she had counted on its 
endurance, her fortitude broke down, and she burst sud- 
denly into tears. 

The sound was as grateful to Will Caryll’s ears as that 
of rain after drought. He saw she had not ceased to love 
him, and that her opposition had arisen from wounded 
feeling. What if he wielded the weapon so unexpectedly 
put into his hands ? If all hope of winning Agnes Feather- 
stone was to be wrested from him, why should he not take 
advantage of his cousin’s evident fidelity, and claim the 
old promise of her hand in marriage ? Thoughts of the 
Mount Eden property flashed through his mind at the 
same moment, and made the transfer of his affections seem 
to be the most natural thing in the world, and as soon as 
Evelyn began to cry, he rushed to her and seized her hand. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


162 

“ Ah ! ” he exclaimed, with all his old fervor, “ you 
remember as well as myself? You can still weep (as I do) 
for the happy days in which we were all in all to one 
another. Ah, Eve, is it possible your love has lived like 
this — through silence, and separation, and despair? My 
dear, dear Eve ! How often have I pictured our re-union ; 
and blamed my folly for thinking it possible you could be 
faithful to me for so long. But it is actually true. You 
love me still. Do you think that if I had believed so, I 
should ever have engaged myself to Agnes Featherstone — 
that any woman could have taken the place of my first 
young love ? Oh, no, no ! I thought you must be mar- 
ried long ago, and I flew to the first arms that opened to 
comfort me. But now that I know the happy truth — that 
I can assure you that my heart beats in unison with yours, 
and you have never been forgotten by me — let us renew 
those youthful vows, Eve, and pledge ourselves to a life- 
long constancy.” 

He had poured this speech out so rapidly, kneeling by 
the side of the chair on which she had thrown herself, 
that Eve listened for awhile in silent astonishment, too 
thunderstruck to stem the torrent of his words. But as 
he concluded, and looked up into her face for sympathy, 
she rose from her seat, and gazed at him with unspeakable 
contempt. 

“You ask me that” she cried; “not only to become 
a participator in your deceit, but to break my darling’s 
heart into the bargain — to be untrue to her whom (I have 
told you) I love better than myself? Why you must be 
mad, or think me so. Take you back — you, who have 
been false to me — who would be false now to Agnes 
Featherstone, and separate myself from her and from my 
own esteem for ever ? My God ! what can men think 
that women are made of? But you waste your time, Will 
Caryll. You are no longer mine, and you shall never be 
hers. Make what excuse you like for it, but break off 
your engagement with Agnes, and leave the Hall within a 
reasonable time, or I shall inform Mr. Featherstone of 
your true name and history.” 

“ You never loved me. It has all been a mistake,” he 
said sulkily. “No woman who had ever cared for a man 
could deliberately effect his ruin.” 

“ I did love you,” she answered mournfully, “ and I am 


MO UNT EDEN 


163 


not sure that I do not love you still, but no affection can 
live that is not founded on esteem. And if I do not effect 
your ruin (as you call it), I must prevent that of my 
dearest friend. And there is no choice, in my eyes, 
between the two. So now you know my final decision.” 

“ I will defy you yet,” he returned angrily. “ I don’t 
believe you have any proofs against me. You only said 
so to make me succumb to your wishes.” 

“ I will show you whether I have spoken the truth or 
not,” said Evelyn, as she unlocked a drawer of the mar- 
quetrie cabinet, and took out a packet of papers. “There 
are your forged cheques,” she continued, holding them 
towards him — “ one for ten pounds, one for fifteen, and 
one for twenty-five ; and all of them endorsed in Uncle 
Roger’s handwriting, with the word ‘ forgery.’ Now, do 
you believe me ? ” 

He made a snatch at the papers, but she was too quick 
for him. 

“ I thought you would try that game,” she said quietly, 
as she re-locked them into the drawer, “ and I was pre- 
pared for it, you see. But it would have done you no 
good, Will. I shall never use those proofs against you ; 
but you shall not marry Agnes Featherstone.” 

“ Curse you,” he muttered between his teeth, “ it will 
be war to the knife between us now. But I will deny my 
own identity. I will swear that you are utterly mistaken 
— that you are a mad woman, and it will rest with you to 
prove your sanity. Not a soul in England could recognize 
me but yourself.” 

“ I have your photographs and your handwriting, and 
I know that your hair is dyed. I don’t think there would 
be much trouble in proving you to be William Caryll,” said 
Evelyn, as she moved away again to the window. 

He saw that the game was played out between them now. 
He had entreated, and denied, and dared her, and it had 
ended in a signal defeat. There was nothing left but to 
accept what terms she might choose to dictate to him. 

“Very well,” he said, with assumed humility, “ I am in 
your hands, Eve, and if you are determined to rob my 
miserable life of its last chance of happiness, you must do 
so. But give me a few days’ respite. I can’t go and 
blurt out the wretched truth without any preparation. 
Will you give me a week to think what will be best to do 
for Agnes and myself? ” 


164 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“Yes/’ she answered slowly, “ I will give you a week, 
and at the end of that time you must speak, or I shall.” 

He bowed his head and approached the door, and she 
rung the bell for him to be shown out of her house. 

And so these two met and parted, who had once thought 
to pass their lives together. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

COUNSELLOR PHILIP. 

Even when Will Caryll was fairly gone, Evelyn Rayne 
managed to preserve her equanimity. Naturally she was 
a soft-hearted and yielding woman in matters of the affec- 
tions, but in this instance she seemed turned to stone. 
Directly her spirit showed the least sign of relenting — when 
she recalled the terrible blight of sin that had fallen on 
her cousin’s boyhood, and the abject look of misery and 
humiliation with which he had left her presence — then the 
remembrance of her love for him, and of the mutual vows 
which they had exchanged, rose up to crush her feelings 
of compassion, and make her judge him only as an 
impostor, who aspired to become the husband of Agnes 
Featherstone. 

Her dear, sweet Agnes ! — her innocent, unsuspecting 
child, with the pouting lips and the golden hair ! Could 
she stand quietly by and see her married to a criminal 
whom she believed to be an honorable man ? It was 
impossible ! Duty, as well as affection, urged her on to 
the task she had set herself, and she was determined to 
perform it to the bitter end. How far jealousy and disap- 
pointment biased her decision, Evelyn did not stop to 
inquire of herself. She was but a woman after all — a very 
admirable and lovable woman with more than the average 
powers of her sex, but still with many of its weaknesses. 

Had Will Caryll returned to England faithful to herself, 
and eager to consummate their love by marriage (even 
though under an assumed personality), his former de- 
linquencies would have proved no obstacle in her eyes. 
He would have appeared a martyr, intead of a felon. She 
would have shielded and guarded him as she had done in 


MOUNT EDEN 


*65 


the days gone by, and made terms for him with his former 
employers, if she had lost every farthing she possessed to 
accomplish her object. She would have burned the proofs 
she held of his forgery on a bonfire of congratulation and 
rejoicing, and stood by his side with her strong hand 
clasped in his, and defied the world to blame her or to 
accuse him. 

Will Caryll little knew what he had lost in losing Eve- 
lyn Rayne. But, under present circumstances, it would 
have been impossible to make her believe that she would 
have acted otherwise. All her faith in her own species 
was shaken to the centre. She hardly thought of Will 
Caryll as untrue to herself. She remembered only that he 
was false to Agnes and the world, and, as Agnes’ friend, 
it was her bounden duty to expose him. She did not in- 
dulge in any more sentiment. Will Caryll’s appeal to their 
former affection for each other ( which proved how little 
he really cared for his fiance ) had dried her tears at their 
source, and left her hardened, miserable, and reckless. 

She even seemed more cheerful during the remainder of 
the day than usual. She was not still one moment. She 
ran when she need only have walked, and she laughed 
when a smile would have answered the purpose equally 
well. 

She rode out with Captain Philip in the afternoon, and 
stood, until the hour for labor was over, watching the ex- 
cavation of a decoy. The captain hardly recognized her 
under this new aspect. He had always considered her to 
be too grave for so young a woman. But she might have 
beeit seventeen again that day, instead of twenty-seven, by 
the rapidity with which she chattered, and the irrelevance 
of her remarks. He found his own thoughts wandering 
from the business they had in hand, whilst he tried to puz- 
zle out the meaning of this sudden transformation. Evelyn, 
with an intuition that was natural to her, and especially 
where Captain Philip was concerned, guessed what he was 
thinking of, and the discovery seemed to make her spirits 
flag. Without warning she drooped, and became silent ; 
and, after a few vain efforts to resume her former cheerful- 
ness, confessed herself to be tired, and turned her horse’s 
head in the direction of home. But neither one phase of 
feeling nor the other deceived her companion. 

“ Now, what is wrong with her? ” he thought, as, with 


i6 6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


knitted brows and rapid step, he took his own way back ta 
Bachelor’s Hall. “ This is not her ordinary equable beha- 
vior. Something must have occurred to worry her. Can 
it be the projected wedding of Agnes Featherstone ? I 
heard that foreign-looking fellow had called on her this 
afternoon. Perhaps she fears he will not make her little 
friend happy. And yet — and yet — much as I believe in 
her powers of affection, Evelyn’s evident disturbance went 
even beyond the interests of friendship. How I wish she 
would confide in me. How I wish I could console her.” 

Captain Philip had no one but his pipe to trust his 
secrets to by that time, for John Vernon had been obliged 
to rejoin his ship, and once more he reigned alone in 
Bachelor’s Hall. So much the better, he said to himself, 
for his life was a sealed book, into which he desired no 
one to pry. As he settled himself in his arm-chair that 
evening, with his books on the table beside him, and his 
beloved pipe in his mouth, he unlocked his desk, and drew 
thence two or three photographs of Miss Rayne, with 
which, from time to time, she had presented him. No one 
who had seen Captain Philip at that moment would have 
believed he was the same practical, hardworking, and appa- 
rently stolid agent of Mount Eden, who had made himself 
known, for miles round, as the possessor of one of the 
longest heads and the coolest brains in the country. His 
muscular frame positively trembled as he took the pieces 
of cardboard in his hands, and his grey eyes were dimmed 
with moisture. 

“ Evelyn,” he whispered softly, two or three times in re- 
petition, as though he loved to hear his own voice speak 
her name ; “ Evelyn, if you only knew how I long to fill 
up the void I can discern in your life. But I have put it 
out of my reach for ever. To tell her now what I should 
have told her long ago, would seem like taking an unfair 
advantage of my power. No ! I must win you first, my 
darling,” he continued, pressing the picture to his bearded 
mouth, “ if I can do so — and then — and then — if that 
happy day should ever come — But, bah ! what a fool I 
am ! ” he exclaimed finally, as he locked her photographs 
away again. “ What should ever make her think of me in 
any other light but that in which I have placed myself — as 
her land-agent and overseer ? She has never given me a 
word or look to say that she regards me otherwise. No ; 


MOUNT EDEN. 


167 


God bless her ! whatever may happen she will never be to 
blame. Only — how much I should like to know what dis- 
turbed her this afternoon, and whether it was connected 
with the visit of Mr. Jasper Lyle. But, after all, it is no 
business of mine, and I am only indulging in idle curiosity 
by thinking of it ; and, in any other man, I should call it 
d — d impertinence.” 

But though he took up a book of new travels, and tried 
hard to fix his mind upon it, Captain Philip found it waste 
time to read that evening, and, opening the door of his 
little cottage, he strode out into the balmy night air, with 
his pipe between his teeth, and his head bare, and wan- 
dered away as far as the plantation of larch and fir-trees, 
which he was traversing with young Vernon when they 
first met Evelyn Rayne. The night was still as death — so 
still that even the nightingales, that began to sing a few 
flute-like notes every now and then, stopped short as 
though alarmed at the sound of their own voices, and the 
faint crying of the speckled frogs, and the whizz and whirr 
of the night moths, could be heard distinctly. Captain 
Philip paced on thoughtfully — the soft moss and summer 
herbage yielding like a carpet beneath his feet, and giving 
no notice of his advance. But his quick ear, ever on the 
alert for poachers and trespassers on Mount Eden, pre- 
sently detected the sound of a footstep down the lower 
drive, and auick as lightning, he flew after and overtook 
it. 

“ Oh ! Captain Philip ! ” cried the voice of Evelyn 
Rayne. “ How you startled me ! ” 

“ Miss Rayne ! ” he exclaimed in astonishment. “ You 
here, and alone ! ” 

“And why not, Captain Philip?” she replied, in a 
would-be lively tone ; but he detected the sound- of tears 
in her voice, nevertheless. “ Surely I can take a stroll in 
my own grounds without attendance ? Suppose I were to 
accuse you of the same impropriety — what then? You 
seem to enjoy the night air as much as I do, and you have 
not even a hat on, so you are worse than I am.” 

But for all her assumed levity, he could hear she had 
been weeping, and her frame trembled as she leant against 
a tree. 

“ You must know what I mean ” he answered gravely ; 


1 68 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ the dew is falling heavily — your dress is quite damp, and 
although these are your own grounds, they are too exten- 
sive to be traversed by a young lady, unprotected, at ten 
o’clock at night. Do you know, when I first detected your 
footstep, I thought it might be that of a poacher ? ” 

“ It is lucky you were not carrying a gun, Captain Philip. 
You might have shot me down.” 

“ I hope I am not quite so rash as that, Miss Rayne ; 
but I wish that, for your part, you would be more prudent. 
Do let me persuade you to return to the house. ” 

“ I shall get no harm,” she said fretfully, for he was 
touching. her wound, though unaware to himself. 

“But you will get no good, Miss Rayne. Forgive me 
for saying that I think I understand something of the feel- 
ing that led you abroad to-night (although I have no notion 
whence it arises). I have felt it myself — that restlessness 
of spirit — and can sympathize with it. But you are too 
delicate to attempt to walk it off.” 

“ I am not delicate,” she returned defiantly. “ I am as 
hard as nails. Nothing will ever kill me but old age. I 
suppose it is due to my bringing up. It has been all hard 
throughout. I have had no friends, no advisers, no guides. 
I have been thrown on myself for sympathy and counsel, 
and — ” 

And here, as though to prove her hardness, Miss Rayne 
broke down, and began to cry. 

Captain Philip took her hand (but most respectfully), 
and placed it on his arm. 

“ Come home,” he said soothingly ; “ you have been 
overwrought to-day. Let me take you back to the big 
house.” 

His allusion seemed to bring back some remembrance 
that braced her up. She let her hand rest where he had 
placed it, and began to step out firmly towards home. Her 
tears dried up again, and her proud spirit began to ques- 
tion how she could have been so weak as to betray herself. 

“ How very foolish you must think me,” she said, when 
she could command her voice. “ It is not often I am so 
weak, is it ? But I am over tired to-day, and a little 
worried, and — and — I am a woman , which accounts for 
everything.” 

“ I could see you were not yourself this afternoon. You 
should have gone straight to bed, and sought relief in rest,” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


169 


said Captain Philip gently. “ You know you need never 
attend to business unless you feel inclined. / am always 
ready and willing to take the whole responsibility of it on 
my own shoulders.” 

“ I believe you would work yourself to death if I would 
allow you,” replied Evelyn, and then she asked suddenly, — 

“ Captain Philip, have you a mother or sisters? " 

The captain seemed quite taken aback. The mistress 
of Mount Eden had never asked him a single question 
concerning his family affairs before. 

“ No, Miss Rayne,” he stammered, “ I am not so 
fortunate. My poor mother died when I was quite an 
infant, and I never had any sisters.” 

“ Neither had I. It is sad to feel so much alone, isn't 
it?” 

“ It is sad. But what made you ask me that question ? ” 

“ I will answer you frankly. You are so good and kind, 
Captain Philip, I thought that if you had sisters like your- 
self, I should like to know them — to make them my friends. 
I have so few female friends,” said Evelyn, with a sigh ; “ I 
seem to have no one to go to for advice in a dilemma.” 

“ Pardon me for saying so, but do you consider women 
are the best friends for women — as a rule ? ” 

“ Unless one is married, yes. But I shall never be 
married,” replied Evelyn. 

“ It is early days to determine that , Miss Rayne. We 
shall see you following Miss Featherstone's example yet.” 

She started violently. 

“ Ah ! don't mention it, please. I cannot tell you how 
hateful the notion is to me.” 

And then she seemed to take a sudden resolve, such a 
resolve as comes to one sometimes in solitude and dark- 
ness, and looks quite different then from what it would do 
in the glare of day. She resolved to make Captain Philip 
her friend, and ask his advice, without confessing she was 
doing so — Captain Philip, to whom she had never shown 
anything but bare politeness yet. But then she had needed 
nothing more herself. 

“ Captain Philip,” she commenced, without further pre- 
amble, “how far do you consider the privileges of friend- 
ship should go ? ” 

“ I should consider the privileges of a true friendship 
illimitable, Miss Rayne.” 


70 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Even to the wrecking of your friend’s happiness ? ” 

“ If it were for your friend’s good, yes. But which of us 
can determine what is for good or for evil in this world ? 
The very filing which looks the worst thing possible in our 
eyes may'be the pre-destined means to a right end. That 
is where the difficulty comes in. Too many of us are apt 
to arrogate to ourselves the privileges of the Creator 
under the name of duty, which only stands for self-grati- 
fication.” 

“ On those grounds one should never interfere in any- 
thing, Captain Philip. One should stand by and see a 
fellow-creature down without holding out a hand ? ” 

“ Oh, no. The opportunity to save is there, therefore it 
should be taken advantage of.” 

“ Then if one of my acquaintances had engaged a servant 
whom I knew to be a thief, should I not be justified in 
telling the truth about him ? ” 

“ Certainly, if he had not left off being a thief.” 

The spontaneous twitch upon his arm made Captain 
Philip aware that something in his reply had touched her. 

“ If he had not left off bemg a thief j” she repeated 
slowly. “But surely he might relapse ? ” 

“ He might. But isn’t it a part of our duty to hope the 
best for our fellow-creatures, Miss Rayne, and does any 
one stand firmly without having had a few falls ? A con- 
firmed thief is a different thing. But I should be sorry to 
place an obstacle in the vay of the reformation of any man 
who had sinned once — or even twice. We cannot measure 
the temptation any more than the repentance. The 
Almighty, who weighs both, will not condemn us for erring 
bn the side of mercy.” 

“ Thank you,” replied Evelyn, after a pause. “ You are 
a good man, Captain Philip, and you have given me some- 
thing to think of. The — the servant I spoke of tells me he 
has repented, and perhaps I am bound to believe him.” 

“ If you refuse to believe him on your cwn authority, 
and he never regains the position he has lest, his downfall 
will certainly be laid (in a measure) at your door.” 

“But if he robs my friend?” suggested Evelyn, in a 
trembling voice. 

“Cannot you caution your friend without betraying the 
dependence placed on yourself? Cannot you open her 
eyes (of course it is a lady — a man would never do such a 


MOUNT EDEN. 


171 

stupid thing as to engage a servant without good references) 
to the advisability of inquiring into his past life and 
character, and leave her to judge for herself? If, after 
that,, she wilfully shuts her eyes to his possible short- 
comings, I should consider your responsibility in the matter 
had ceased. Has the lady applied to you for the man’s 
character ? ” 

“ Oh, no. I have nothing to do with it. She does not 
know I ever knew him.” 

“ Then take my advice and leave them alone, Miss 
Rayne. No good ever came in this world of interfering, 
and it generally ends by both parties turning round against 
you. Your friend won’t be in the least bit obliged, — you 
may depend on that, — and the man will probably take to 
poaching your preserves. Time enough to speak when 
you’re asked to do so.” 

“ I believe you’re right,” said Evelyn, as they reached a 
side door of the big house, “ and I have been worrying 
myself too much about a trifle.” 

“You have too sensitive a conscience,” he replied, as 
she shook hands with him. 

“ Nothing of the sort, Captain Philip ; but I have been 
worried.” 

“ I kno7v you have been worried,” he replied sympatheti- 
cally, as he left her. “ But all the same,” he said to him- 
self, as he walked back to Bachelor’s Hall, you have not 
deceived me, Evelyn Rayne. No man-servant’s peccadilloes 
have had the power to shake your proud spirit in this way. 
It had something to do with Miss Featherstone’s marriage. 

I am sure of that ; else, why should her question have so 
immediately followed her expression of distaste at my 
mention of it ? Can she have met this Jasper Lyle before, 
and under different circumstances ? It is hardly probable. 
He is not the sort of man, with his half-foreign ways, to be 
easily forgotten ; and he is evidently a stranger to every- 
body about here. And whilst at Liverpool, living in 
obscurity with her aunt, she was not in a position to make 
acquaintances. But there’s a mystery somewhere, though 
I haven’t got to the bottom of it yet. But if it is to worry 
her, or make her unhappy, I will — I will. 

Meanwhile, Evelyn was repeating to herself the words 
which he had said to her. “ If he had not left off being 
a thief /” Had Will left off being a thief? The question 


172 


MOUNT EDEN. 


rung in her ears all night, and throughout the following 
day. She had no reason to doubt it. He could hardly 
have attained the position he held unless he had lived in 
a respectable and honorable manner. And for that 01 e 
terrible blot upon his boyhood — for that one fierce temp- 
tation weakly yielded to, was she to condemn him to a 
life-long punishment, to thrust the happiness he was about 
to grasp from his hand, and turn him out upon the world 
again with the criminal’s brand upon his brow? She 
dared not to it. She shuddered at the idea of what might 
befall him — abandoned and outcast for the second time ; 
and yet, to think of Agnes, her trusting, unsuspecting 
Agnes, linked to a forger. Oh, it was terrible. She did 
not know what to do, nor how to decide. Yet, through all 
her uncertainty, rang the echo of Captain Philip’s woids : 
“ If he never regains the position he has lost, his downfall 
will certainly lie in a measure at your door.” 

Pier first jealous anger was over by this time. Evelyn’s 
strong heart could not love where it despised ; and Will’s 
conduct had been thoroughly despicable. But she was 
still sadly confused and uncertain how she ought to act, 
when the smart Featherstone liveries came gleaming up 
the avenue, and Mrs. Featherstone, all furbelows, flounces, 
and flurry, rushed into her presence. Her agitated 
appearance made Evelyn’s heart quake with fear for what 
she might have to say. 

“ Oh, my dear girl,” she commenced excitedly, “ I have 
come to take you back to the Hall with me. Now, nD 
excuses, Evelyn. I know how busy you are, and what a 
lot you have to do ; but Agnes is ill, and I am sure you 
will not refuse to go to her, for she is crying out for you 
every moment.” 

“ Agnes ill ! Oh, what is the matter ? ” exclaimed Evelyn, 
forgetting all about her interview with Will Caryll in her 
anxiety for her favorite friend. 

“ Don’t ask me, my dear, for I’m sure I can’t tell you, 
no more than nothing,” replied Mrs. Featherstone ; “ only 
the whole house is topsy-turvy, and heaven only knows 
what will happen to us next, and Agnes has locked herself 
into her bedroom, and won’t come out for her Aunt Sophy 
nor me, nor anybody.” 

“ But why — why ? ” cried Elvelyn, in palpable dis- 
tress. 


MOUNT EDEN 


173 


* c Why. all on account of Mr. Jasper^ Lyle, of course. 
Haven’t I told you ? Dear, dear ! my poor brain is 
Whirling so, I hardly know if I’m on my head or my heels. 
Well, my dear Evelyn, you know how we all liked him 
(and do, for the matter of that), and how the wedding day 
was almost fixed, as you may say, and now he’s going 
away.” 

Evelyn became silent. 

“ Do you hear me, my dear ? Actually going back to 
Italy without any warning or reasonable excuse, and without 
fixing any time for his return. Of course Mr. Feathers tone 
he’s quite puLout about it, and says the engagement had 
better be broken off altogether, and poor Agnes is in 
hysterics, and I feel so ill you might knock me down with 
a feather.” 

“ But, dear Mrs. Feathers tone, I don’t quite understand. 
Surely Mr. — Mr. — Lyle must have given some reason for 
his abrupt departure ? It must be family matters, or money 
matters, or something of importance that takes him froih 
England at such a moment. He must have told Mr. Fea- 
therstone something about it. It would be so extraordinary 
. — so uncalled for else.” 

“ My dear, he told papa nothing , except that it was 
imperative he should leave us, and when he was asked why 
and for how long, he stuttered and stammered, and said 
lie would write and tell us everything on getting back to 
Italy. And I believe he has told our poor Agnes that his 
health won’t permit him to live in England, or some such 
rubbish, and she is' breaking her heart over it. Such 
a shock for the poor child, you know, when she was just 
thinking about ordering her trousseau.” 

“ It would be a terrible shock, but we must hope to 
avert it,” replied Evelyn, as she hurried away to put on 
her walking costume ; and all the time she was doing it 
her heart kept on asking, “ What shall Ido? What shall 
I do ? ” 

<' Dear Mrs. Featherstonc,” she said when they found 
themselves driving to the Hall together, “ do tell me the 
truth. Does Mr. Featherstonc know anything of Mr. Lyle’s 
antecedents ? Did he ascertain how he had been living 
during his residence in Italy ? Agnes is such a prize, you 
know, in every respect, that one cannot be too careful that 
her prospective husband should have none but the most 
honorable motives in seeking her hand in marriage.” 


*74 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Oh, you’re quite right, my dear, and very sensible, and 
see things just as you should do. We always say at the 
Hall, ‘ If you want real sound advice, go to Evelyn Rayne 
for it.’ But we weren’t quite so careless as you seem to 
think. We met Mr. Jasper Lyle first at the house of our 
mutual friends, the Spencers, and you know how very 
particular Mrs. Spencer (being second cousin, once re- 
moved, to Lord Courtley) is concerning whom she admits 
to her evening parties. And when we saw how taken Mr. 
Lyle became with our Agnes, papa made all sorts of 
inquiries about him of Mr. Spencer, and he told us that 
his friends, Sir Andrew and Lady Marsden, had known 
Mr. Lyle for years, and that he was a most estimable 
young man, who, though poor, had lived a thoioughly 
respectable and quiet life, never gambling, or drinking or 
running into debt, but behaving like a gentleman in every 
respect. And papa thinks nothing of his want of money, 
you know, Evelyn, since we have plenty for them both, 
and only want our Agnes to be happy in her own way. 
And then — when we thought everything was going so 
smooth — to have this terrible upset. It’s most trying, my 
dear, I can assure you.” 

“There is no need of assurance, dear Mrs. Featherstone, 
I can understand your feelings thoroughly,” said Evelyn. 
“ But may there not be some mistake in the matter ? Mr. 
Lyle is so much of a foreigner, he may not have been able 
to explain himself properly to Mr. Featherstone. It may 
be his health, or his private affairs, that compel him to 
return to Italy for a while, and he may have every intention 
of a speedy return. Don’t you think you are all looking at 
the matter in rather too serious a light ? ” 

“There now!” exclaimed Mrs. Featherstone. with the 
intensest admiration, “ I said to papa that it was ten to 
one but what you’d put everything right for us. You’re a 
wonderful young woman, Evelyn Rayne. Talk of grey 
heads on green shoulders ! Why, you might be sixty to 
hear you talk. I shouldn’t wonder (as you say) if we’ve all 
made a mess of it. Papa’s no hand at French, .no more 
than myself ; and Agnes has been in such a state ever since 
she heard that Mr. Lyle is going away, that I don’t believe 
she’s been able to understand anything. But you must 
get at the truth of it for us, Evelyn, and then, if the young 
man only wants to run home fora while to settle his affairs* 


MOUNT EDEN. 


* 7 $ 

why, we must put the wedding off for a month, and nobody 
will be the worse for that.” 

“ No, indeed,” replied Evelyn, with affected cheerfulness, 
as the carriage stopped at Featherstone Hall, and she ran 
upstairs to Agnes’ bedroom. 

If (she kept on repeating to herself), if Agnes’ affections 
were really so deeply involved, and Will had tried to live 
down the evil past by a virtuous and honorable manhood 
— why, she would bid him stay on and fear nothing more 
from her. Captain Philip had said that we should never 
be condemned for erring on the side of mercy. 

When she reached Agnes’ room, she found the silly 
little girl as despairing as though her lover had been 
stretched out in his coffin, and ready for the grave. She 
sobbed in Evelyn’s arms for some time so bitterly as to be 
quite unable to speak, and when the passionate outburst 
had somewhat subsided, her words were scarcely coherent. 

“But what is all this terrible fuss about, my Agnes?” 
inquired Evelyn, in her soft, rich voice. “ Has Mr. Lyle 
deserted you for some other woman, or is he so ill that the 
doctors have given up all hope of his recovery? ” 

“ No, no,” sobbed Agnes, from the shelter of her friend’s 
bosom ; “but he is going back to Italy at once, and I feel 
certain I shall never see him again.” 

“ But surely that is rating your lover’s fidelity at a very 
low standard, Agnes. Has Mr. Lyle intimated in any way 
that he has no intention of returning ? ” 

“ Oh, no. He has said nothing about that. Only it is 
imperative that he should go away for a while. Nothing 
that we can say or do will alter his determination. And, 
Evelyn, I have a premonition that it is for ever. Some- 
thing will happen to prevent our meeting again. It was 
too good to last. No one is permitted long to be so happy 
in this world as I have been.” 

She had been so happy , poor child, and it was the hand 
of her dearest friend that had pulled that happiness down. 

“ My dear, sweet Agnes/’ cried Evelyn, “ do you love 
Mr. Lyle so much as all that? Would parting from him 
now destroy all your happiness in this world ? ” 

“Oh, Evelyn, how can you ask me such a question? 
My happiness is bound up in him. If we are to part for 
ever I shall die. If he were to prove faithless to me, I 
should take my own life.” 


176 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ It is wrong to speak like that, Agnes. No man is 
worthy of so much confidence. They are all faulty, remem- 
ber, and apt to succumb to temptation. Don’t think too 
much of Mr. Lyle, or any man, or you may live to be 
bitterly disappointed.” 

“ And yet you think of and trust your Cousin Will ! ” re- 
turned Agnes innocently. “ You told me, Evelyn, that 
you were sure he would never be untrue to you, and you 
were waiting in perfect faith and confidence for him to come 
back again and claim you. Didn’t you, now ? And mayn’t 
I think as much of Jasper as you do of Will ? ” 

Evelyn’s sweet blue eyes were suddenly dimmed with 
tears. Yes, it was true. How much she had thought of Will ! 
And now — But pride drove her tears back to their 
source, and Agnes never saw them fall. 

“ Yes, dear,” said her friend gently, “ you can think just 
as much of Jasper as I do of Will. I will not dispute that. 
Only, if this separation is to give you so much pain, and 
fill you with such mournful forebodings, can it not be 
avoided ? ” 

“ Jasper says not, Evelyn. He told papa that the most 
important business called him abroad, and that it was 
impossible to say how long it might keep him there. That 
is the miserable part of it.” 

“ Suppose / were to speak to Mr. Lyle, Agnes ? I have 
a good business head, and may be able to advise him. He 
is so ignorant of English laws and customs, he may not be 
aware that his business (whatever it may be) can be exe- 
cuted quite as well by writing as by word of mouth.” 

Agnes brightened up immediately. 

“ Oh yes, Evelyn, do. You always set everything right. 
The first thing I did when I heard this horrible news was 
to ask them to send for you. And you can tell Jasper 
what / can’t,” she added blushing, “ that if he must go to 
Italy, it would be much better for him to wait, and take me 
with him ; and then we should have a happy trip together, 
instead of a miserable separation.” 

“ And you are quite sure, then, my darling, that your 
heart will never change?” said Evelyn anxiously, “and 
that, if after your marriage you found out that Mr. Lyle 
was not all you had believed him to be — if you heard he 
had been wild and reckless, and even wicked, in his youth 
— still you think that you could continue to love him, and 


MOUNT EDEN. 


*77 


pity him, and console him for all he may have gone through, 
and never remember that he was less a hero than you 
believe him to be now ? " 

She wars so thoroughly in earnest, she made the shallower 
nature earnest too. 

“ Indeed — indeed I would, Evelyn,” replied Agnes, her 
big eyes full of solemn tVuth. “ I love him so dearly, that 
if I heard he had been a murderer , it could only make me 
love him more. Nothing could hurt me now, except to 
part from him.” 

“ Then you shan't part from him, my darling,” said 
Evelyn determinedly ; but then, seeing the look of surprise 
which Agnes fixed upon her, she mitigated the force of her 
words. “ I mean that I will speak to Mr. Lyle myself, and 
point out to him that he has incurred a duty, by engaging 
himself to you, which forbids his leaving England, if it is 
to be the cause of so much unhappiness. His Italian 
business can doubtless be arranged quite as well after 
marriage as before. And now, darli-ng, you will not cry 
any more, will you? I don’t know my pretty Agnes with 
these red eyes and swollen features. Get up and bathe 
your face, and change your dress, and let Mr. Lyle see you 
fresh and smiling when you meet again. Where shall I 
find him, Agnes? I want to put you out of your suspense 
at once.” 

“ I don’t know, dear Evelyn. He has seemed very 
miserable all yesterday and to-day, and I think, after his 
talk with papa, he went out into the garden.” 

“ Then I will go and look for him there,” said Evelyn, 
as she left the room. 

But her heart beat very fast as she did so. 

“ Never mind, never mind,” she said to herself, as she 
trampled down her feelings, “ it must be done. It ought 
to be done (I am sure Captain Philip would say so), and 
the sooner it is over the better. Matters have gone too 
far with my poor little Agnes. I hardly thought she cared 
so much, and at all costs she shall be happy. And he too 
— this may be the turning point of his existence. Have I 
the right (as Captain Philip said) to arrogate to myself the 
privilege of the Almighty, and decide when, and to what 
limit, a pardon should be extended to the guilty? He has 
suffered enough, perhaps, and if he has been untrue to me, 
how could I hope (after all) to cope against the fascinations 




MOUNT EDEN. 


of my little Agnes ? But if — if it had only been so*&t : 
else than her ! ” 

She went all round the garden, with her brave firm hand 
pressed tightly against her aching heart, before she found 
him, and then the faint perfume of his cigar alone directed 
her to the sequestered seat where he had thrown himself, full 
length, in the plenitude of his disappointment. 

As her apparition burst upon his view, Will Ca/yll sprung 
from his seat with an expression almost of fear, 

“ Eve ! ” he exclaimed, “ I have kept my promise ; indeed 
I have. I am going to leave England again, and for ever.” 

“ Hush, Will,” she answered warningly, u we must learn 
to address each other more formally, for some one might 
overhear us.” 

“ What does it signify? ” he said, in a torn* of despair, as 
he sunk back upon the garden seat. “ I have told you I am 
going. If they knew everything now, it would not make 
much difference.” 

“Yes, it would,”- said Evelyn, biting her lip, as his 
attitude recalled the weak-minded youth of old to her, “ for 
I have come to tell you that you must remain and marry 
Agnes Featherstone. It is too late to draw back now. I 
see that plainly, and that her health and happiness will 
suffer if her engagement to you is broken off.” 

“ But if you are determined to bet/ay me — ” he began 
sheepishly. 

“ Did I ever betray you yet, Will ? '* she answered, with 
calm reproach. “ Can you recall one instance in which I 
played you false, or did not do my uttermost to further 
your purpose ? ” 

“ But you said you would yesterday, Eve. You swore 
that if I did not speak, you would. And so I thought that 
the easiest plan for me would be to clear out altogether.” 

She stood before him, with her hawd still pressed against 
her throbbing heart, and her sad £yes turned resolutely 
away. 

“ You must make some allowances for yesterday,” she 
answered slowly ; “you took me by surprise, and I spoke 
hastily. Agnes is very, very dear to me, and I rank her 
happiness above my own. When I thought that you would 
wreck it, I told you to go. Now that I see that it is bound 
up in yours, I tell you to stay, and, from this moment, you 
shall be Jasper Lyle to me, and I will do my utmost to 
forget that you were ever — Will Caryll.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 179 

He leapt up then, and tried to seize her hand, but she 
prevented him sternly. 

“ Remember who you are” she said, — “ the affianced 
husband of my friend. Have I not just warned you that 
we must not only forget, but utterly erase the past ? 
Therein lies your only safety, for I have spoken of my 
cousin Will Caryll to Agnes, and a very little want of care 
might raise her suspicions of you. Your future is in your 
own hands now. . Make it as noble and free from blame as 
the past should have been.” 

“ But what excuse can I offer Mr. Featherstone for 
changing my intentions ? ” asked Will Caryll, involuntarily 
leaning on her, as of old. 

“ Surely Agnes' misery at the idea of parting with you 
would be sufficient excuse for anything. Say you have 
given up the idea of leaving England on her account. It 
will be perfectly true. And go now, Will, as quickly as 
you can, and tell the poor girl of your decision, or she will 
make herself ill with weeping.” 

“ Eve !” he exclaimed, “how can I thank you for your 
generosity — your forbearance ? I have always loved you 
— no time, nor distance, nor silence could tear my heart 
or memory from those unforgotten days, when — ” 

“ Oh, hush, hush ! ” she said, in a voice of the keenest 
pain, “ never speak of them again. They are dead and 
gone days. The cousin I knew then has vanished for 
ever. From this day, you must be to me Mr. Jasper Lyle 
only, and I to you your wife’s nearest and most faithful 
friend. Go to her, Mr. Lyle, go at once, and — depend 
securely upon me !” 

“ You will come with me ? ” he said. 

“ No ; she will not need me now. I will see her by-and- 
bye,” replied Evelyn, as she waved him from her presence. 

But when she had watched him enter the Hall, she 
turned her footsteps resolutely away, and walked across 
the fields to the big house again. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


l8o 


4 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

BY THE SAD SEA WAVES. 

Within twelve hours of this interview, peace and content- 
ment once more reigned at Featherstone Hall. Mr. Lyle 
had informed his future father-in-law that ( in considera- 
tion of Agnes’ objection to his departure ) he had given 
up the idea of re-visiting Italy (at all events for the pre- 
sent), and the old man had expressed himself as well 
pleased with his decision. 

Mr. Featherstone had not been looking well lately — age, 
combined with the cares of business, and the constant 
journeys he was obliged to make backwards and forwards 
to his bank, was beginning to tell upon a naturally weak 
constitution, and he had grown greyer and more wrinkled 
than his years would justify. The little annoyance which 
had arisen consequent on Jasper. Lyle’s proposal had wor- 
ried him far more than it was worth, and he hailed the 
announcement that his Agnes would have no more need 
to make herself unhappy. 

“That is right, that is right,” he said, when the news 
was conveyed to him ; “ what is the use cf causing more 
anxiety and misery in this world than life naturally brings 
us ? Let the wedding go on, my boy. The day that Agnes 
is married, I shall settle twenty thousand pounds on her, 
and I want to see her comfortably provided for, and happy 
with the man she loves, as soon as possible. Everything 
in this world is so uncertain. It is folly not to grasp at 
the goods the gods provide us before they pass beyond our 
reach.” 

“ I trust Agnes will never pass beyond mine, Mr. Fea- 
therstone,” said Jasper Lyle. 

“ No, no, I have no fear of it. She is good, and true as 
steel, and will make you a loving and faithful wife. But 
I should like the wedding to take place as soon as possible, 
and then you can take her to Italy if you see fit to do 
so.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


181 


The welcome intelligence soon spread through the 
household, delighting everybody ( except the birds of prey, 
'“bo had almost hoped that something was going to occur 
o prevent the invasion of a foreign element to the family), 
tnd Agnes came down to dinner wreathed in smiles and 
blushes, and only disposed to grumble at the fact that her 
darling Evelyn had not remained at the Hall to be a par- 
taker of her renewed happiness. 

“ It is just like Evelyn,” she pouted, “ to come like a 
good fairy and set everything right, and then to walk off 
and take no part in it. You don’t know her yet, Jasper,” 
she continued to her fiance. “ When you do, you’ll 
acknowledge there never was another such woman in 
the world as Evelyn Rayne.” 

“ Always excepting Agnes Featherstone,” he answered 
playfully. 

But Agnes shook her head. 

“ No, no. I am not a bit like her. I could not be if I 
lived for a hundred years. Evelyn never cants or preaches, 
but she does just the right thing at the right time, and she 
never spares herself if it is for the good of others. Just 
see how interested she is about me and my marriage — and 
yet she has been so disappointed in her own— poor, dar- 
ling Evelyn ! Some women who have missed their happi- 
ness,” said Agnes, with a glance in the direction of her 
Aunt Sophy, “ become spiteful and ill-natured towards 
every one who is likely to attain it ; but that is not Evelyn. 
She is only anxious that, if she can help it, no one shall 
suffer as she has done.” 

“ Do you think, then, tnat she has suffered very much ? ” 
demanded Jasper Lyle, in a low tone. 

“ Very, very much. I am sure of it,” answered Agnes, 
“ for she told me so herself. She said that she worshipped 
her cousin,— that he was her all , — and the loss of him was 
the great trouble of her life. So you see how unselfish it 
is of her to work for the happiness of others. I wish she 
had been here to-night, to reap the reward of her labors. 
Mamma, will you write to tell Evelyn that all our plans are 
upset again, and the wedding-day is fixed* for. the tenth of 
next month ? Of course she will be my bridesmaid — there 
is no need to ask her that. I should not feel married at 
all if Evelyn were not there.” 

“ She appears to be more necessary to your nappiness 


182 


MOUNT EDEN, 


than the bridegroom,” observed Jasper, with a touch of 
jealousy. 

“ Of course she is, sir,” replied Agnes, renewed confidence 
making her saucy. “ Bridegrooms are as common as black- 
berries, but a friend like Evelyn is only met once in a life- 
time.” 

She expected him to contradict her, if only for the fun of 
the thing ; but he took her just in a very sober fashion. 

“ You are quite right, and I perfectly agree with you,” 
he said thoughtfully, as he turned away. 

By the next day, Evelyn heard that her efforts on Agnes’ 
behalf had been successful, and that the wedding day was 
fixed for a much earlier date than had been previously 
intended ; and then she did what to those who knew her 
seemed a very funny thing — she sent for her doctor. Now, 
during the ten years that she had lived at Mount Eden, Dr. 
Wilton had ever entered the house on her account, except 
once or twice. Healthy, vigorous, and with an eminently 
pure constitution, what should she need from medicine? 
She was always either on horseback or on foot, taking an 
abundance of exercise that would have made most women 
shudder. She rose early, and she went early to rest, living 
by choice on the plainest viands, and taking the least pos- 
sible amount of spirituous liquor. Her clear eyes, cool 
hands, and elastic frame evidenced her enjoyment of perfect 
health, and if in the course of nature she sometimes felt a 
little languid or uneasy, she l ad her own simple remedies 
for such trifles, and would have laughed at the idea of com 
suiting a medical man. She had, therefore, not seen Dr. 
Wilton for some time past, although he had been in con- 
stant attendance on her Uncle Roger for the two last 
years of his life, and she looked upon him as an intimate 
friend. He was very much concerned, therefore, when he 
received her note, asking him to call at Mount Eden, and 
posted off to answer it as quickly as his numerous engage- 
ments would permit. But as she came forward to greet 
him, with an outstretched hand, Dr. Wilton could not dis- 
cern anything wrong in her appearance. 

“Why, how is this?” he exclaimed cheerily. “ You're 
not ill. I’d take my oath of that. Then who is it ? Le 
brave Capitaine Philip ? ” 

“ Not that / know of,” replied Evelyn smiling ; “ but I 
did not send for you to talk, but to listen, Now sit down 


MO U NT EDEN. 1 8 3 

there, like a good man, and let me explain my little dilem- 
ma to you.” 

She had been battling hard with her memory, and her 
doubts, and her scruples during the last few days, but she 
was not going to let him see it. She forced herself to 
smile, and to speak lightly, and to carry things off with a 
high hand whilst he was there ; and she managed to deceive 
him completely. Dr. Wilton was a clever practitioner, 
and could have detected a feverish eye pr a failing pulse 
in a minute. But he had no power to discern the symp- 
toms of an aching heart against the determination of the 
woman who bore it. 

“ I really am suffering from a disease, doctor,” she went 
on merrily ; “ but it is such an uncommon one, that perhaps 
it has never come under your notice before.” 

“ And what is it ? ” inquired the doctor. 

“ A plethora of friends.” 

“That is indeed a very uncommon complaint. What 
are the symptoms, Miss Rayne ? ” 

“ An inability to do things as I like ; a superabundance 
of good-natured attempts to deprive me of my liberty of 
action, and to substitute what they think is best, for what 
/ know I want. In short, doctor, I am anxious to get 
away from Mount Eden for a little change, and if you don’t 
give me a certificate to say that I require it, I feel I shall 
never be able to go.” 

“Will they detain you by force? I thought you were 
lady paramount here.” 

“ So I am ; but I am alluding to my great and best 
friends, the Featherstones. They have only just returned 
from abroad themselves ; but if they heard that I wished for 
change, they would either insist upon my going there, or 
upon accompanying me elsewhere. And I want to be 
alone,” said Evelyn, her voice unconsciously falling to a 
lower key ; “ and so will you order me away to the seaside, 
that I may have a reasonable excuse to offer them for a 
hurried departure ? ” 

“ You want to go away — alone ,” repeated the doctor 
slowly, as he felt her pulse. “ Why, what’s the reason ? 
Have you had any bad news lately ? Failed in your 
speculations, or overdrawn your account at your bankers ? 
Your pulse is rather irregular, and, now I come to look at 
you, your face is flushed. Why are you so anxious to run 
away from Mount Eden?” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


184 

Evelyn blushed beneath his scrutiny like a rose, but still 
maintained an affectation of indifference. 

“ I should have thought you would have expressed more 
curiosity to learn why I have not run away from it before , 
Dr. Wilton. Do you know that I have been living for ten 
years at Mount Eden, without once having a change ? 
That, with my ample means and opportunities, I have never 
visited London or Paris, but lived on here from year’s end 
to year’s end like a vegetable ? ” 

“ True ; it must be a very dull life for a young woman,” 
observed the doctor thoughtfully. 

But she would not admit that. 

“ Oh, no, no ; it is not ! It is everything that is most 
delightful to watch the change of the seasons — the sowing 
of the seed, the reaping of the harvest, the young animals 
growing up around me, the trees, the flowers, the birds, 
above all, to feel the power for good that has been be- 
queathed to me, and to care for my tenantry and laborers 
and their children ; I think these are the greatest pleasures 
and the purest satisfaction that are attainable upon earth.” 

“ Then why do you want to leave them ? ” said the doctor. 

Her enthusiasm was quenched in a moment. A bitter 
remembrance rose to dim her eye, and make her tongue 
falter, and she paused to regain her courage. 

“And you will have plenty of gaiety, by-and-by,” con- * 
tinued Dr. Wilton, “ if what I hear is true, and your friend 
Miss Featherstone is to be married next month. Do you 
know the gentleman ? Does he meet with your approval P 
Is it what is termed a good match for her ? ” 

“ Oh, I think so,” replied Evelyn hurriedly ; “ everybody 
approves of her choice, which is the main thing. But, 
doctor, about my going away. I only want you to order it, 
and I can manage the rest for myself.” 

“ Of course I order it, and now I come to examine you 
more closely, Miss Rayne, there is a want of tone about 
you that will be all the better for a little sea air. Where 
will you go? Choose some bracing, lively place, like 
Brighton, or Ramsgate, for instance.” 

But she shrank from his suggestions as we shrink from 
the light that pains us. 

“ Oh, no ; not Brighton, nor any place like that. I hate 
the glare, and the noise, and the publicity. I would rather 
go to the coast of Cornwall or Devonshire. I want to be 
quite alone.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


i8 S 

“ That is rather a strange idea of change from Mount 
Eden, Miss Rayne. I should have thought you had 
enough quiet and solitude at home ; however, you must 
have your own way, I suppose, though I should have 
thought a bright, cheerful place was more suitable to so 
young a woman.” 

“ How often am I to tell you, Dr. Wilton, that I am not 
a young woman, and never have been ? ” replied Evelyn, 
with a sigh ; “ sometimes I think that I was born old — ” 

“ Welt, well, my dear,” said the doctor, who had guessed 
from the first that her restlessness was due to some mental 
disturbance, “please yourself, and come back to us re- 
freshed in mind and body. And now, how is my friend 
Captain Philip? ” 

“ I did not know he was a friend of yours, doctor. 
I wish I might have the privilege of calling him so. I con- 
sider Caotain Philip a most remarkable, as well as estimable, 
man.” 

“ If you are the head of Mount Eden Miss Rayne. he is 
the very soul of it.” 

“ I quite agree with you. No one knows better than 
myself how hard he has worked to improve the property — 
nor how well he has succeeded.” 

“ Has it never struck you as strange that so gifted a man 
should occupy so laborious a position ? for Captain Philip’s 
conversation has sometimes positively startled me. He 
has seen so much, and observed so keenly, that he is a 
perfect encyclopaedia of knowledge ; but, doubtless, you 
have remarked it as well as myself.” 

“ No,” she answered musingly ; “ he seldom talks to me 
except upon farm matters, and even about those he is not 
very communicative. I have always looked upon Captain 
Philip as a reserved and silent man.” 

“ Indeed ! that is strange. But you can see he is a 
gentleman, and, I should say, a man of family.” 

“ Oh, yes. But he is only my land-agent, you see. We 
seldom meet, except on business.’ 

“ His mode of life, too, is so uncommon,” pursued the 
doctor — “ to shut himself up in that tiny cottage, with his 
books and his pipe. It is like no one else. I’d lay any- 
thing I possess that that man has a secret in his past life 
that has made him turn hermit from the world.” 

“ But not a disgraceful one. I would pledge my life on 
that” exclaimed Evelyn with sudden energy. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


1 86 

“ Dear me, no ! I hope I didn’t intimate it,” replied Dr. 
Wilton, “for it is the very furthest thing from my thoughts. 
The secret may be connected with others, perhaps, — with 
a scandal, or a misfortune, or a loss, — but still it is there, 
and if I heard to-morrow that Philip was a duke, I shouldn’t 
be in the least degree surprised.” 

“ More likely a martyr,” said Evelyn. “ His is just the 
nature, I should imagine, to sacrifice itself. But I hope he 
is happy now.” 

“ I am sure it would make him happy to listen to your 
championship, Miss Rayne, for he has a very high opinion 
of you. But I think you might draw him a little more out 
of his shell, and, perhaps, infuse a little more brightness 
into his existence. He is a devourer of books, and an 
occasional loan from your library would doubtless be very 
acceptable to him.” 

“ I am sure Captain Philip is welcome to borrow any- 
thing from Mount Eden; he ought to know that by this 
time,” replied Evelyn, with some dignity, as though she 
did not quite like Dr. Wilton teaching her her duty towards 
her land-agent. 

“True, but he is (as you observed just now) a reserved 
and silent man, and not likely to intrude his wishes -on 
your consideration. From what his present mode of living 
may be a change, of course I cannot say, but I am sure 
that it is a change, and an unexpected one, and that Cap- 
tain Philip’s reserve covers, perhaps, a great sorrow. He 
is not of a subdued and silent disposition by nature ; I could 
swear to that. Those grey eyes of his could sparkle with 
merriment, and I should like to see them do so.” 

“ So should I,” replied Miss Rayne. 

And from that day she evinced a much greater interest 
and curiosity in Captain Philip, and often found herself 
speculating on his probable perplexities, and wondering, 
in a vague manner, if anything happened to herself. What 
would become of him in the future, and if he would ever 
take as much interest in another property as he did in 
Mount Eden. 

When she told him, in confidence, that she was about to 
leave home for a time, and wished her departure to be kept 
a secret till she was gone, it would not have been extraor- 
dinary, even on a land-agent’s part, to have displayed a 
little surprise for, in all the time that they had worked 


MOUNT EDEN. 


187 


together, Miss Rayne had never slept a night away from 
Mount Eden before. Yet Captain Philip did nothing of 
the kind. He listened with respectful attention to all she 
had to say, and then he asked her quietly, — 

“ Shall you remain away till after harvest ? ” 

“ Till after harvest” stammered Evelyn, taken aback 
• — “ I don’t know — I am not sure — it will depend entirely 
upon circumstances.” 

“ I hope you will feel that you are entirely at liberty, and 
that Mount Eden is as safe in my hands as it would be in 
your own,” replied Captain Philip. “ Of course I shall 
send you daily reports of all that is going on here, and you 
will be able to judge how far, or for what length of time, 
we may be able to get on without you.” 

“ I have no fear of that, Captain Philip, and my absence 
may be a very short one. But I want change sadly, — Dr. 
Wilton agreed with me at once on that score, — and as a 
stitch in time saves nine, the sooner I am off the better. 
And you understand, Captain Philip, why I do not confide 
my intention to the Featherstones beforehand. They are 
so good, and so fond of me, they would make such a fuss 
to find out the why and the wherefore, that they would 
torture me to death.” 

She spoke so petulantly, and she looked so harassed, that 
Captain Philip’s heart for once got the better of his head. 

“You are not ill l” he cried, in a tone of anxiety. 

Evelyn’s eyes turned on him with grave surprise. He 
misinterpreted the look for. one of offence. 

“ Forgive me, Miss Rayne,” he continued, coloring 
scarlet, “ but you must know that your health and life are 
dear to all your — your — dependants. What would Mount 
Eden do without its mistress ? ” 

But his words, instead of offending her, appeared to have 
raised her spirits. 

“ Very well, indeed,” she answered brightly, “ if it could 
only retain its overseer. Frankly, my dear friend, I am 
not ill in body, but I am very much harassed in my mind, 
and I am going away in order to have a little fight all by 
myself. Now, are you satisfied ? Believe me that I have 
told this to no one but you — that I don’t think (somehow) 
that I could tell it to any one but you. But I know that it 
is safe, and that you will respect my confidence.” 

He. raised the hand she extended to him to his lips, but 


MOUNT EDEN. 


1 88 

he did not answer her. Both felt that no answer was needed. 
A few days after, Evelyn left Mount Eden, accompanied 
only by her maid Anna, and took her way to London, whence 
she despatched a letter, with a magnificent wedding present, 
to her dear little friend Agnes. The present — a parure 
cf pearls — excited general admiration, but the contents of 
the letter raised a hue and cry. That Evelyn Rayne should 
have left home without giving them any intimation of the 
fact, was incredible to the Featherstones, who had shared 
her every thought for so many years past, and the enclosed 
note from Dr. Wilton, advising the step which she had 
taken, only increased their consternation. The first thing 
they did was to summon and question the doctor ; the next 
to drive over to Mount Eden and see if they could get any 
satisfaction out of Captain Philip. But neither interview 
left them much the wiser. Dr. Wilton reiterated his simple 
statement that he considered Miss Rayne would be all the 
better for a little sea-air, and Captain Philip professed to 
know nothing of the matter. They had not even the con- 
solation of writing Evelyn crossed sheets of reproach or 
entreaty, for she had said in her letter that she would be 
moving about for some time, but would let them know as 
soon as she was settled. Agnes wept copiously at the idea 
of being married without her bosom friend, and even wanted 
to put off her wedding on that account, but Mr. Feather- 
stone would not allow of any postponement. One would 
have thought, to hear the banker talk of it, that he was al- 
most anxious to get rid of his only child. Any way, the pre- 
parations went on, and but one person of them all guessed 
the real reason that the mistress of Mount Eden had found 
her strength unequal to the ceremony. That one was Jasper 
Lyle ; and as he wandered about the gardens of Feather- 
stone Hall, puffing at his cigarette, and remembered the 
grander beauties of Mount Eden, and the love of Evelyn 
Rayne, he gnawed his silky moustaches with rage against 
himself for having been such a blind fool as to let the 
woman and the acres slip out of his hands as he had done. 

Meanwhile Evelyn, having found her way down to the 
Cornish coast, and settled herself and Anna in a weird- 
looking house, hanging over a cliff at Penzance, set to 
work determinedly to root that image from her heart, 
which (more from custom than from her knowledge of its 
worth) seemed to have imbedded itself there. Day after 


MOUNT EDEN 


189 


day she wandered on the lonely beach, or sat on the rocks, 
watching the grand and restless ocean, — nowhere more 
grand or more restless than on the coast of Cornwall, — and 
arguing herself out of any remnant of feeling she might en- 
tertain for William Caryll. And to a woman of Evelyn’s 
temperament, this was an easier task than some might 
imagine, for she could not love where she did not esteem. 
For years past she had been cherishing the memory of — 
not Will Caryll — but an ideal raised by her fancy from a 
half-forgotten dream, and now, when she saw him as he 
was, — fickle, shallow, and avaricious, — she shrunk from 
herself for having been so weak as to have bent her soul 
before him. It was herself whom she despised, not him. 

“ Is that the thing,” she asked her heart, “ which you 
have been cherishing and weeping over, and remaining 
faithful to, through good report and evil report, for ten long 
years — to which you would have given Mount Eden to be 
squandered, or neglected, or made ducks and drakes of — 
this false-tongued, effeminate sham , who can be content to 
marry an honest girl under an assumed name, and without 
telling her of his disgraceful antecedents? Oh, my poor 
Agnes ! God grant that, whatever he is, he may have the 
grace to make you happy, to whom he will owe everything 
he possesses. 

“ I wonder if I have done right or wrong in following 
Captain Philip’s advice, and would he have advised me as 
he did had he known the whole truth ? I wish I had con- 
fided everything to him. I am sure he would have been 
true to the trust ; and yet, how could I have betrayed poor 
Will ? That would have made me almost as bad as him- 
self. He may be truly repentant, — heaven grant he is,— 
and my denunciation of his past might have cast him 011 
the world again — hardened and reckless. But I wish he 
had not professed to love me still. I could have forgiven 
his infidelity to me much sooner than that. For how can 
he love us both at the same time? And who could help 
loving my sweet, pure-hearted Agnes ? He would indeed 
be a villain if he could be untrue to her. No; I will not 
believe so badly of poor Will. He is weak and foolish, 
and not entirely sincere, — a contemptible character viewed 
by the light of my experience, — and one which I feel 
amazed to think I can ever have considered worthy of my 
affection. Still, I did love him, and love is sacred even 


190 


MOUNT EDEN 


when in ashes. But I thank God, who has opened my 
eyes to see him as he is, and given me strength to battle 
with myself, and cast him out of my heart for ever. Only 
— for Agnes’ sake — I must make the best of him I can, 
and, for the sake of the past, I must try and secure his 
future. And the first step must be to annihilate the memory 
of Will Caryll for ever. That is why I feel I have done 
wisely to come down here and commune with myself. I 
should have been afraid to attend the wedding. A thou- 
sand impulses and fears might have upset me and made 
me betray myself, not one of which is love. The barb may 
be extracted, but the wound is sore still, and, until it is 
quite healed, it is better not to make too sure of myself. 
So, whatever my darling girl may think, I shall remain 
here till it is all over, and then, whilst they are on their 
honeymoon trip, I shall have time to grow strong and brave 
again, and be able to thank God for my deliverance.” 

She was strong and brave to be able to argue with her- 
self on her weakness, and resolutely stamp it out ; but the 
strongest natures are ever the most diffident of their own 
powers, and their modesty is the very weapon with which 
they conquer. Perhaps the part of the trial she was under- 
going that Evelyn felt the most, was having to break the 
news to Agnes that it was impossible for her to be one of 
her bridesmaids, or even to be present at her wedding. 
She was compelled to excuse herself on the score of ill 
health, although she felt very guilty in doing so ; but in 
reality it was not a falsehood, for doubt, and anxiety, and 
suspense had left her far from well. The marriage was 
fixed for the tenth of August, and on that morning Evelyn 
wandered far away upon the cliffs, walking fast, and won- 
dering why her heart should be beating in such an irregu- 
lar, jerky manner all the while. She would not look at her 
watch for fear of ascertaining just when the ceremony was 
taking place, but as she saw the boatmen and fishermen 
returning from their work, and knew that it must have 
struck twelve o’clock, she threw herself down on the thyme- 
scented turf, and dedicated a few tears to the for-ever-van- 
ished memory of the past. 

She could not know ( strong-hearted woman as she was) 
how hard it is to detach one’s self from an old love, until 
she had passed through the ordeal. 

The knowledge of the worthlessness of the object of our 


MOUNT EDEN. 


‘ 191 


affections does not always accomplish it. We may despise 
ourselves for having loved so poor a creature, but still we 
can weep for our own folly and degradation ; in fact, people 
weep for themselves far oftener than they do for others. 
How intensely selfish is our mourning for the dead. It is 
invariably on account of the pleasure we have lost, of the 
solace we miss, of the happiness they afforded us; ?iever 
because they have changed for the worse, or because we 
think they mourn and grieve for what they have left behind. 
So with an unfaithful love ; the sorest wound inflicted is to 
our mortified vanity, which cannot bear to see itself sup- 
planted ; therefore, to a sensible man or woman, it should 
be the lightest affliction of all. 

Those few tears completed Evelyn’s cure. They watered 
the grave of her early attachment, from which the ghost of 
Will Caryll, as he had been , never rose again. 

When she had risen from her prostrate attitude and dried 
her tears, through which a little prayer of gratitude had 
found its way to heaven, she walked back to her temporary 
home with a light step, although she knew that the bells 
of St. Mary Ottery must be clashing out the announcement 
that Jasper Lyle and Agnes Featherstone were one . And 
her heart was light as well as her step. The suspense was 
over. The insurmountable barrier had been raised between 
them, and she felt that her cure was complete. Thence- 
forward, whatever she might be called upon to do to for- 
ward the interests of Jasper Lyle, she could never again 
associate him with the pitiful lover of her girlish days, Will 
Caryll. Indeed, she earnestly wished, for the man’s own 
sake, to be able to dissever them. She wanted to respect 
Agnes’ husband, and know that he was worthy of her. And 
now Evelyn felt that she could sit down, with a clear con- 
science, and try to find out the best points about him. 

She quite astonished her maid Anna by the volubility 
with which she discussed the grand event of the day, and 
the eagerness with which she announced her intention of 
returning to Mount Eden during the following week. 

She had seemed so listless and melancholy up to that 
period, Anna could not imagine what had worked such a 
change in her mistress — puzzle herself as she would. 

But our maids do not know everything about us, though 
they would fain persuade themselves that they do, and 


192 


MOUNT EDEN 


often make strange blunders, and work incalculable mis- 
chief, by piecing the wrong ends of the puzzle together. 

Still, there are some things, thank God, which remain 
secrets between ourselves and Him. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

A GREAT SHOCK. 

Evelyn descended to breakfast on the following morning, 
animated and cheerful. With the knowledge that Jaspei 
Lyle and his wife had left Hampshire, she experienced 
a great longing to return to it. Mount Eden, with its 
fields golden unto harvest, and its orchards laden with 
ripe fruit, appeared fairer in her eyes than it had ever done 
before, and she knew she should be restless until she was 
once more on the spot to superintend everything. 

“ How wicked I have been,” she thought to herself, as 
she stood at the window of her sitting-room, and looked 
out upon the foaming waves that dashed incessantly against 
the crag-bound coast — “ how wrong to cherish such a 
rebellious spirit when I have so many mercies and so much 
pleasure left to me still. I, who was only a penniless 
orphan, without friends or prospects, baldly better than a 
maid-of-all-work (though that wasn’t poor Aunt Maria’s 
fault), the possessor of Mount Eden, with such a variety 
of interests to keep me occupied and happy from year’s 
end to year’s end. And how I love every stone upon the 
place. My beautiful Mount Eden ! It would break my 
heart, I think, to give it up now even to a man I cared 
for. I love it from January to December — when it is laden 
with hoar-frost, or heavy with verdure — fiom the moment 
the first pale green buds break out upon the trees, to 
when they lie, brown and shrivelled, on the garden path. 
Every tender lamb and tiny chick that comes with the 
spring seem to appeal to my heart as if it was part of 
myself, and I am obliged to steel that heart against loving 
them for fear the pain of their unnatural fate should be 
too much for me. And then my darling horses, and my 
lovely dun and dappled milkers ; my wealth of summer 
flowers and autumn fruits ; my fair pasture lands and my 


MOUNT EDEN. 


193 


noble park. How can I be sufficiently thankful for all the 
benefits which have been showered on me — for all the 
interests my life contains ? I am an ungrateful beast to 
have forgotten it for so long. An as for poor Will, it must 
be almost punishment enough for him to see what he has 
lost without making him suffer more. I am glad — yes, I 
am glad now that I did not prevent his marrying Agnes. 
She will raise and purify his life, and wash the bitterness 
from his memory ; and I shall be always within reach to 
warn him should he show any signs of relapse. But he 
will not — I am sure of that. He would not run so 
terrible a risk again. Captain Philip’s advice was sound, 
and good, and merciful. How I wish I were competent to 
attain his standard.” 

She finished off her reverie with a deep sigh, in the midst 
of which she was startled by hearing Anna exclaim, in 
rather an agitated voice, — 

“ If you please, Miss, Captain Philip is here, and wants 
to speak to you.” 

Evelyn came down irom cloudland at once. A thousand 
terrors rushed into her mind. Mount Eden had been 
destroyed by fire — her favorite hunter had dropped down 
dead — burglars had broken into the big house, and stolen 
all her property — anything and everything but the right 
thing, combined to make her face turn grey with fright. 

“ Captain Philip, Anna ! What on earth can bring 
Captain Philip down to Cornwall? ” 

“ Oh, don’t look like that Miss, please. It’s nothing 
particular, you may be sure. Perhaps the Captain’s come 
to tell you about the wedding yesterday.” 

The color returned to Evelyn’s face, and a smile broke 
over it. 

“ Why, of course, Anna, that must be it. Show the 
captain up at once, please.” 

And in her relief from the greater dread, she overlooked 
the fact of how improbable it was that her overseer should 
forsake his trust in order to give her the details of Miss 
Featherstone’s wedding. 

She had hardly known how glad she should be to see 
Captain Philip again, but as he entered the room and 
advanced to greet her, she flushed to the roots of her hair 
with pleasure, and he colored almost as much as she did. 

“ Oh, Captain Philip, this is most unexpected,” she said, 

7 


194 


MOUNT EDEN. 


as they shook hands ; “ and I was just thinking of you, 
and dear old Mount Eden. When did you arrive ? ” 

“ I have only just arrived, Miss Rayne. I have been 
traveling all night.” 

She arched her eyebrows. 

“ Indeed ! You have come to tell me about my darling 
child’s wedding, of course. Well, how did it go off? Was 
everything right, and did you send over all the white 
flowers to be found in our conservatories ? ” 

“ I executed all your orders, Miss Rayne, to the letter. 
Both the Hall and the church were a mass of flowers, and 
everybody said it was the prettiest wedding that had ever 
been seen in St. Mary Ottery. I need not tell you that 
the bride looked lovely.” 

“Ah, my sweet Agnes,” interposed Evelyn, her eyes 
over-brimming with tears of affection ; “ she could not fail 
to do that." 

“ And after the breakfast, at which there were upwards 
of a hundred guests, Mr. and Mrs. Jasper Lyle left for 
Teignmouth, in Devonshire, where they are to spend the 
honeymoon.” 

“ But, Captain Philip,” cried Evelyn suddenly, laying 
her hand upon his arm, “ you did not come all the way 
down here to tell me this ? ” 

“ No, Miss Rayne, I have a graver motive for seeking 
you.” 

“ Oh, tell it me quickly, for mercy’s sake. Something is 
wrong at Mount Eden ? ” 

“ You are mistaken. Everything at Mount Eden is as 
right as it can be.” 

Evelyn turned deathly pale. 

“ It isn’t Agnes,” she muttered, — “ or — or — him.” 

“No; but it concerns them nearly. Miss Rayne, you 
must prepare yourself for a shock. It is in order to save 
you as far as possible that I started off at once to anticipate 
the newspapers.” 

“Tell it me at once,” she whispered. 

“ Mr. Featherstone has left us.” 

“Mr. Featherstone ! and on his daughter’s wedding 
day ! How terrible. Who will break it to her? ” 

“ I promised Mrs. Featherstone to see Mrs. Lyle before 
I returned. T shall go on to Teignmouth with as little 
delay as possible.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


J 95 


“ But, Captain Philip, it must have been awfully sudden. 
When did it occur ? ” 

“ It wcis awfully sudden. He appeared quite well at 
the breakfast, but after the bride and bridegroom had left 
the Hall, he locked himself up in his room in order (as he 
said) to answer some important letters, and by six o’clock 
it was all over.” 

“ Heart disease ? ” said Evelyn, in a low voice. 

“No, Miss Rayne.” 

“ What, then? ” 

“ You will hardly believe it, but he destroyed himself /” 

Evelyn gave vent to a loud ejaculation, and leant heavily 
against the table. 

“Are you faint? Shall I call your maid?” said Cap- 
tain Philip anxiously. 

“ No, no, I shall be all right in a minute,” gasped Evelyn, 
with wide-open, horror-stricken eyes. “ Destroyed him- 
self ! It is incredible. Mr. Featherstone destroyed him- 
self! Oh, Captain Philip, are you sure you are not 
mistaken ? ” 

“ I wish I were, Miss Rayne ; but it is, unfortunately, 
too true. I was the first person out of the house that poor 
Mrs. Featherstone sent for. I had not returned home 
half-an-hour. Of course I went back at once, and 
despatched the carriage for Dr. Wilton. But it was a mere 
matter of form. I knew that as soon as I saw the corpse. 
He had shot himself right through the brain. The roof 
of his head was blown off.” 

“ Ah ! Captain Philip, how horrible ! — how horrible ! ” 
exclaimed Evelyn, closing her eyes at the sight her 
imagination had conjured up. “But what motive can he 
have had for such an act? ” 

‘ That is about the saddest part of the story, Miss 
Rayne. Mr. Featherstone left a letter behind him to 
explain his motives. It appears that the bank in which 
all his interests were placed has approached a crisis which 
it cannot possibly tide over, and everything will be 
swamped with it. Poor Mrs Featherstone is left without 
a farthing, and the Hall (with the property on which it 
stands) is already mortgaged up to the elbow.” 

“ Oh, how selfish, how cruel, how cowardly of him ! ” 
cried Evelyn, with flashing eyes, “ to leave a helpless 
woman to struggle alone against the tide which has over- 


9 6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


whelmed himself. If everything is gone, there was nothing 
else to lose. Why did he cast his courage and his honor 
after it ? This was the moment to have buckled on his 
armor, and gone to work afresh to keep bread in the mouth 
of the wife who was dependent on him. I have always 
respected Mr. Featherstone — I can respect him no longer. 
How I wish that heaven had taken him long ago.” 

“ Can you make no allowance, Miss Rayne, for a weak 
brain, turned by the shock of such a discovery ? ” 

“ I don’t know. I think that true and disinterested love 
would keep the brain cool and the courage strcrg for the 
sake of those who trusted to it. Could you do si.ch a 
cowardly thing, under any circumstances, as to lake your 
own life, Captain Philip ? ” 

“ I think not, for I have had more than one temptation 
to do so, Miss Rayne. But neither could you. We possess 
energy of character, and an incentive to action is like a 
trumpet call to arms with us. But all people are not con- 
stituted alike, and God only knows how our poor friend 
may have struggled and fought before he was overcome.” 

Evelyn went up to her overseer, and clasped his hand. 

“ You are a good man, Captain Philip,” she said, with 
moist eyes, “ and I thank you for the lessons that you teach 
me. And now, you must take lunch with me before you 
start.” 

“ No, thank you, Miss Rayne. I breakfasted as I came 
along, and must make my journey home by way of Teign- 
mouth as soon as possible.” 

“ But you cannot go till the train does, and I don’t think 
there is another before two o’clock. That will just give 
Anna time to pack my things.” 

“Are you coming with me?” he asked quickly, in a 
tone of pleasurable anticipation. 

“ Not to Teignmouth,” she answered, with a slight shud- 
der. “ No, I couldn’t go there. It would seem like intrud- 
ing on their privacy ; and dear Agnes would not feel the 
sad news less from my lips than she will do from yours. I 
couldn’t stay with her, you see. But I shall go at once 
to poor Mrs. Featherstone. She loves me, and I shall be a 
comfort to her, I know — and her only one. Agnes has 
her husband.” 

“ Mrs. Featherstone will welcome you as an angel of 
mercy. Your name was the first she called upon when she 
understood the extent of her misfortune.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


197 


“ Ah ! why didn’t you tell me that before ? ” said Eve- 
lyn reproachfully. “ But there — you knew, of course, that 
my first act would be to return to her.” 

“ I knew that you would do exactly what seemed best to 
you, and that, therefore, it would be best,” replied Captain 
Philip, as he turned away. 

Early in the afternoon they were both in the train again, 
though bound in different directions, and before nightfall 
Evelyn was in the arms of Mrs. Featherstone. Their 
meeting was necessarily a very painful one. The mistress 
of the Hall had been used to regard Evelyn as a second 
daughter, and to lean on her counsel and advice. In one 
sense it was a comfort to see her, but the occasion made 
all comfort seem void. The Hall looked more mournful 
than houses usually do under the influence of the shadow 
of death. The signs of the late wedding festivities, still 
hanging about it, formed a melancholy contrast to the 
shuttered windows and the subdued voices, whilst the 
knowledge ( which seemed to have permeated the house- 
hold ) that all the luxury around them would pass away as 
soon as the corpse was carried over the threshold, served 
to increase the gloom. Mr. Rastall and Miss Macdonald, 
and the unfortunate little nephew ( who happened to be 
home for his holidays ) moved about like criminals doomed 
to die. They were indeed down in their luck. Under 
ordinary circumstances, they might have hoped to be 
remembered (if ever so slightly) in their brother-in-law’s 
will, but they knew that the bankrupt suicide had had no 
power to leave them anything. They were so hopeless and 
so forlorn during that week of waiting, that they were 
almost driven to feel kindly towards each other, and to 
wonder whether their combined forces might not result in 
a successful effort to keep the wolf from the door. 

Captain Philip returned to Mount Eden the following 
day. The bride had naturally been terribly upset, and the 
bridegroom had looked aghast at the dreadful news of 
which he had been the unwilling bearer ; but, according to 
Mrs. Feather stone’s express wishes, they had decided not 
to return to the Hall till the inquest was over. 

“ I did not break the whole extent of the misfortune to 
them,” said Captain Philip, in relating the story to Evelyn 
Rayne, “because it seemed too terrible to blight the first 
days of their married life with the prospect of poverty, as 


igB 


MOUNT EDEN. 


well as the certainty of death. But Mr. Jasper Lyle will 
have to ‘jump around’ a bit now, if he wishes to keep 
his wife in the position of a lady. I’m afraid three hundred 
a year won’t go far towards it. Mr. Featherstone has 
behaved cruelly all round, Miss Rayne. I couldn’t help 
agreeing with you on that score when I saw those two 
young people. Why did he let the marriage go on — the 
marriage on which he had promised Mr. Lyle to settle 
twenty thousand pounds — when he must have known he 
had no more power of doing so than I have ? ” 

“ Perhaps he was anxious ( knowing what was before 
them ) to secure his daughter’s happiness at any cost,” 
replied Evelyn gravely. “ He loved Agnes devotedly. 
She was his idol. He must have suffered terribly in think- 
ing of her. ” 

“ Well, married people have been happy on three 
hundred a year before now, and doubtless may be again. 
But I should be sorry to try the experiment with Mr. Lyle. 
Why didn’t Mr. Featherstone leave it to his honor? Then 
we should have known what stuff he is made of. As it is 
now, he has a right to consider he has been cheated.” 

“ Oh, I don’t think W — I mean, I don’t think — at least, 
I sincerely hope Mr. Lyle would never prove so ungrateful 
as that,” said Evelyn lamely; “you don’t allow his love 
for my darling Agnes to weigh in the scale at all, Captain 
Philip.” 

“ Oh, doubtless he loves her, — I don’t see how he could 
well help doing so just at present, Miss Rayne, — but you 
don’t need me to remind you that courtship and marriage 
are two very different things, and that no man likes to lose 
twenty thousand pounds. It will put Mr. Lyle’s love for 
his wife to the test, — there’s no doubt of that, — and I for 
one shall be very glad to see it turn up trumps.” 

Evelyn had expected that the poor little bride would 
return home in a very grave and melancholy mood, but she 
was quite unprepared to see how white and drawn her face 
had become in one short week ( which should have been 
so happy), and to hear the cry of despair with which she 
threw herself into her arms. 

“ Agnes, Agnes ! ” she exclaimed, “ try to control your- 
self for your poor mother’s sake. She has so much to bear, 
remember. You have your husband’s love to support you, 
but she is left alone in the world. This is the time when 


MOUNT EDEN. 


199 


you must prove your affection for her by teaching her how 
to be brave." 

“But, Evelyn," exclaimed Agnes, gazing up into her 
friend’s face with terror-stricken eyes, “ what dpes mamma 
mean by saying we are beggars ? Surely papa was very 
rich. He said he should settle twenty thousand pounds 
on me on my wedding day. Shall I have to give it up to 
mamma ? ” 

A faint feeling of disappointment passed through Evelyn’s 
mind. She could not believe that Agnes was mercenary, 
and yet, what test had the poor child ever had till now by 
which to try the metal that she was made of? Evelyn 
would have kept the news of her father’s bankruptcy from 
her till after the funeral, but Mrs. Featherstone had evidently 
disclosed it, and there was no use in attempting further 
deception. 

“ You can never be a beggar, my darling,” she said, as 
she stroked the girl’s sunny hair ; “ Mr. Lyle has an income 
of his own, and, though it is small, it is enough to live 
upon." 

But Agnes pushed the loving hand away almost 
brusquely, as she looked up again. 

“ Three hundred a year ! ” she exclaimed contemptuously. 
“As if any one could live upon that ! Evelyn, you must 
tell me the truth. Where is papa’s money gone? Where 
is my twenty thousand pounds ? How are we going to 
live in the future ? ” 

“ Oh, Agnes, darling ! I would like to have kept this 
extra trouble from you for a little while, but perhaps it is 
better you should know the worst at once. Your father’s 
bank failed, dear, and every shilling he possessed went with 
it. It was because he could not bear the shame and the 
misery of it all that he was rash enough to take his own 
life. Don’t blame him, dear. Pity him and pray for him ; 
he must have suffered so much before he acted as he did.” 

But Agnes was silent as though she had been turned to 
stone. 

“ We are beggars,” she muttered at last — “ poor mamma 
and I — beggars indeed.” 

“ Mrs. Featherstone has received a very kind letter from 
a sister of hers'in Edinburgh," said Evelyn, trying to speak 
more cheerfully. 

“ From Aunt Graham, I suppose ? ’’ interposed Agnes, 


200 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ Yes, from Mrs. Graham, — that was the name,. — asking 
her and Miss Macdonald to go and make their home at 
Langbrae as soon as the funeral is over, and I think your 
mamma has accepted the offer. She must leave the Hall, 
you know, Agnes dear, and everything in it ; and to find 
herself amongst her own relations will be the greatest solace 
she could receive.” 

“And we shall have nothing, then — nothing ,” repeated 
Agnes. 

“ Oh, my darling, don’t say that. You will have your 
husband, and if his income is not sufficient for your need, 
he has two strong arms to work for you. Indeed, Agnes, 
except for the terrible loss of your poor father, I don’t think 
you are to be pitied.” 

“ Let me go and tell Jasper,” said Mrs. Lyle, as she un- 
twined herself in an indifferent manner from Evelyn’s arms. 
“ He knows no more of this than I did, and 1 dread to 
think what he will say when he hears it.” 

And she left the room with such a pitiful and woe-begone 
expression on her countenance, as made Evelyn fear that 
she cared more for the loss of the money than she did for 
the death of her father. As soon as the funeral was over, 
there was obliged to be a discussion of ways and means 
(for the creditors would not permit the unfortunate family 
to remain at Featherstone Hall one day longer than was 
necessary), and then the truth came out. Mrs. Feather- 
stone and Miss Macdonald were to seek an asylum with 
their sister, who had also invited the invalid nephew to her 
house until some arrangement could be made for him, and 
Mr. Rastall was to go to a distant relative, who picmised 
him employment on his farm, but the bride and bridegiot m 
seemed unable to form any plans for themselves. Jasper 
Lyle, whose brow was lowering and gloomy, confessed 
himself unable to meet any present expenses. He had 
anticipated a considerable portion of his annual allowance 
to pay for his wedding journey, and had fully expected to 
receive the fulfilment of his father-in-law’s promise on his 
return.. 

“ He told me ” (he said) “before ever I proposed for 
Agnes, that he was prepared to settle twenty thousand 
pounds on her. He repeated it afterwards. I never 
could have afforded to marry her otherwise, and I consider 
that I have been shamefully taken in and defrauded, and 
any other man would say the same.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


201 


“ That may be, sir,” exclaimed Captain Philip, stepping 
hastily forward, “but you must not, and you shall not, 
speak of the late Mr. Featherstone in such terms in the 
presence of his widow and his daughter and his friends. 
Whatever yo-ur disappointment may be, you will please to 
keep it to yourself here and now J u 

“ Thank you, Captain Philip ; that is just what I should 
have wished to say,” added Evelyn, for the cruel circum- 
stances under which she had met him again had robbed her 
of all nervousness in the presence of her cousin. 

Lyle turned and looked at her as she spoke, and for a 
moment she saw Will Caryll before her, with the ugly frown 
he was wont to bestow on her outspoken candor. 

“ I don’t know,” he said, addressing Captain Philip, 
“what right you have, sir, to call me to order. I believe 
you are Miss Rayne’s overseer — ” 

“ And her friend and adviser,” interposed Evelyn. 

“ Perhaps, but not mine, and as I happen to be related 
to the family, I r consider I may choose my own words. 
This unfortunate affair has put me in a hole as well as 
everybody else, and I should like to ascertain from the 
solicitors whether Mr. Featherstone’s daughter has not 
(under the circumstances) some claim upon her late fathers 
property.” 

“ Not the slightest, sir,” replied one of the lawyers in 
attendance ; “ no one has any claim except the creditors. 
Mr. Featherstone not having (unfortunately) made any 
separate settlement upon his wife.” 

“ And I should have given it up if he had,” sobbed the 
good-hearted widow. “ I would have gone out charring 
sooner than have kept money that was due to others.” 

“ Oh, Evelyn, darling, isn’t it all miserable ? ” cried Agnes, 
clinging to her friend. 

But Evelyn’s only reply was to clasp her still closer to 
her bosom. 

“ Well, then, it’s a deuced awkward confession,” said 
Jasper Lyle, with a glance round the room as if he wanted 
to escape ; “ but I’ve nowhere to take my wife to, and no 
money to pay for her expenses. The only plan I can think 
of is to return to Italy (as I wished to do before the wed- 
ding took place, and if I had been allowed to carry out my 
intentions, I should have been saved all this bother), and 
see about re-investing my capital in England. I am doing 


202 


MOUNT EDEN. 


nothing with it there, and meanwhile, Mrs. Featherstone, 
I suppose there is no objection to your daughter remaining 
with you ? ” 

“ But she can't remain with me, Mr. Lyle. How can 
you ask such a thing, when you have heard that I myself 
have to live upon charity? It is unreasonable of you/’ 

“Oh, Jasper, darling, take me to Italy with you. Don’t 
leave me behind,” cried Agnes, as she flew to her husband’s 
arms. 

But his threatened perplexities had driven the lover pro 
tem . from Jasper Lyle’s mind. He had always been more 
ready to be made love to than to make love, and he put 
his young wife’s arms away almost roughly. 

“ Don’t worry me, Agnes, just now, when every nerve is 
on the rack. Give me time to think, for God’s sake. How 
can I afford to take you on such an expensive journey ? . I 
have barely enough coin to land myself there. I was never 
placed in such an awkward dilemma before.” 

Agnes began to sob bitterly, when Evelyn approached 
them. 

“ Mr. Lyle,” she began, in her soft rich voice, “ do not 
perplex yourself further. Leave Agnes with me. You 
know how very dear she is to me — of the care I shall take 
of her, and that she has been almost as much at home at 
Mount Eden as she has been here. Agnes, darling, will it 
not be best? Trust yourself to me, and leave your hus- 
band unencumbered. He will not be absent very long, 
and when he has settled his money matters, and returned 
to England, we can arrange something for your future. 
My dear little sister, — my almost child, — come back to 
Mount Eden with me, ai d see what we can do to make 
the time pass until Mr. Lyle rejoins you.” 

“ Oh, Evelyn, that is just like you. It will be the very 
thing,” said Mrs. Featherstone. 

“I shall be at ease now. I could trust her with you for 
ever,” added Jasper Lyle, as he clasped Miss Rayne’s hand 
with rather too palpable a pressure. 

“And what does Agnes say?” inquired Evelyn gently. 

“ Oh take me home, Evelyn — take me home. I don’t 
know what to say or think. Everything around me 
seems as black as ink, and I feel as if I should never be 
happy again. But let me go with you. I shall have rest 
there. Let me go with you.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


203 


So the next day, Mr. Jasper Lyle (though not without 
having received a suspiciously thick envelope, without the 
cognizance of the others, from Miss Rayne’s hands) took 
his departure for Italy, and the poor little mourning bride 
returned to Mount Eden with her friend. Exhausted as 
she was with grief at parting from her husband and her 
home, she was thankful to seek repose, and, as soon as she 
knew that she had fallen to sleep, like a tired child, with 
the tears yet undried upon her rose-leaf cheeks, Evelyn 
crept downstairs, and stood at the open French window of 
her library, looking out upon the night. How different 
was this home coming from the one she had anticipated ! 

But a few days back she had been revelling in the 
thought of seeing Mount Eden again. And now she could 
think of nothing but the sad scenes she had passed through, 
and the change that had fallen on the fortunes of her 
friends. And yet how peaceful it all looked. The dark- 
blue sky was studded with stars, the moon sailed like a 
queen above the tree tops, and everything was as still as 
the poor suicide sleeping in the graveyard. Evelyn 
rested her cheek upon the lintel of the door-post, and gave 
herself up to thought. Presently the perfume of a cigar 
was wafted on the night air, and then the illuminated tip 
could be seen approaching though the darkness. 

“ Captain Philip,” she exclaimed, “is that you? I was 
feeling so lonely all by myself.” 

“ Has Mrs. Lyle left you ? ” he said, stopping beside 
her. 

“ I have left her, dear child, for she has cried herself to 
sleep. This is a sad ending to her honeymoon, Captain 
Philip.” 

“ Sadder than one can express. I told you this would • 
prove the test of Mr. Jasper Lyle’s affection for his wife. 
What do you think of it now, Miss Rayne ! ” 

“ Don’t ask me. I want so much to hope the best.” 

“For her, or for — him 'i ” 

Evelyn started. 

“ For her , of course. Hasn’t she been my dearest 
friend for years past ? Why should you suspect me of 
being interested in — him ? ” 

“Only as her husband; and, as matters are now, it is 
difficult to separate their interests. Do you believe he 
will return ? ” 


204 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“Captain Philip, what are you dreaming of? Not 
return to Agnes — to my poor child ! He could not be so 
base. I am quite angry with you for the suspicion." 

“ I am sorry to have made you angry but I only asked 
for your opinion. / don’t think he will.” 


CHAPTER XX. 

SETTLED AT MOUNT EDEN. 

Evelyn Rayne had affected to ridicule Captain Philip’s 
belief concerning Jasper Lyle, and yet, as the days went on, 
her mind recurred to it again and again. His behavior was 
certainly not that of an ardent lover, nor did he seem in 
any particular hurry to return to England. His first letter, 
announcing his arrival in Florence, was followed by the 
silence of a week, during which Agnes moped and refused 
to eat, and nearly fretted herself to death wondering what 
could be the reason she heard nothing further from her 
recreant bridegroom. But the answers to her imploi ing and 
impassioned letters were few and far between, and seldom 
contained any reference to his money affairs, or to the 
subject that lay nearest his wife’s heart. At last, 
indignant for Agnes’ sake, and dreading she scarcely 
knew what from her former experience of her cousin’s 
shifty character, Evelyn took it upon herself to 
write to Lyle, and upbraid him for his prolonged 
absence. She said nothing of her intention to 
others, but she used her pen freely in Agnes’ cause. It 
was by her own forbearance (and, perhaps, guilty silence) 
that Jasper Lyle stood in the position of husband to her 
dearest friend, and she would not stand by quietly and see 
her heart broken by his palpable neglect. Besides, all the 
neighbors were commenting on his extraordinary behavior, 
and she almost commanded him, by the power she held 
over him, to come to Mount Eden without any further 
delay. She wound up her letter in these words : — 

“ If you have deceived us with regard to your supposed 
income, and have no money with which to pay your 
journey back again, you must know you have but to apply 
to me to get what is necessary, i would sooner part with 


MOUNT EDEN. 


205 


thousands than see my darling girl fret as she is doing now. 
I enclose you notes for twenty pounds, and beg you will 
return as soon as you receive it, or I will not answer for 
the consequences to her health. All arrangements with 
regard to your future can be made on your arrival.” 

The consequence of this epistle, with the promises it 
contained, was that in another week Mr. Jasper Lyle, 
apparently as affectionate as any wife could desire, was 
holding Agnes in his arms again, and raising the poor 
foolish girl to a seventh heaven of delight. It had not been 
difficult for him to read between the lines of his cousin’s 
letter. 

“ It’s all right,” he thought, with a sneer at her supposed 
weakness ; “ Eve cares for me still, — there’s no doubt of 
that, — and it’s the best consolation I could have for having 
let her and Mount Eden slip through my fingers. ‘ You 
must know you have but to apply to me to get what is 
Jiecessaryl That’s it. A little judicious treatment, and I 
shall as good as share her income, and certainly come in 
for half the comforts of Mount Eden. And so I ought, 
for Eve is standing in my shoes, and she knows it. I 
don’t think it will be difficult to persuade her to let us stay 
on there — what with her love for Agnes, and her old pen- 
cha?it for my unworthy self, and if I can get her to give me 
the place of that fellow Philip, I don’t see why we shouldn’t 
turn into a regular happy family.” 

And so he came back post-haste to try his chance. His 
wife was naturally delighted to welcome him. She loved 
him with all a girl’s first infatuation, and had no suspicion 
that he had deceived her Upon any point. His poverty 
she had known before she married him. It was only her 
poor father who had been to blame in the transaction, and 
his part in it they had best not remember. Her husband 
had returned to her. That was enough, and (for the first 
few days) all that she knew or cared for. 

But the mistress of Mount Eden, though perfectly cour- 
teous and kind, did not welcome him with the same enthu- 
siasm, and Jasper Lyle soon perceived it. The best suit 
of rooms was prepared for his wife and himself, the ser- 
vants treated them with the utmost deference, and all the 
luxuries with which Mount Eden abounded were placed at 
their disposal. But yet Evelyn, while she lavished ca- 
resses and words of endearment on Agnes, seemed always 


2o6 


MOUNT EDEN. 


grave when she addressed her husband. Mr. Lyle felt he 
must put this right. His wife’s affection was nothing to 
him compared to Evelyn’s good-will. The one meant 
money ; the other was rather a nuisance than otherwise. 
So, one evening, when Agnes was safe in bed, he descended 
to the library, where he knew that Evelyn was in the habit 
of sitting up and reading long after the household had 
retired to rest. She started slightly as she saw him enter 
the room, but her thoughts flew immediately to Agnes. 

“Anything the matter? Does Agnes want me?” she 
exclaimed. 

“ Agnes is fast asleep,” replied Jasper Lyle, taking the 
chair next her ; “ so, I believe, is everybody else, except 
you and me.” 

“ And why have you come here, then ? ” 

He regarded her with a smile of incredulity. 

“My dear Eve, is it necessary to ask? Are we not 
cousins — almost brother and sister? Is it not natural I 
should like sometimes to speak to you out of earshot of the 
•prying and curious ? ” 

Evelyn bit her lip, and looked annoyed. 

“ I thought,” she answered, “ that we had come to an 
agreement to drop the subject of our relationship — that, 
from the moment of your marriage, you were to be to me 
only Jasper Lyle, and I — your wife’s most intimate friend? ” 

“ And so we are — before strangers. But blood is thicker 
than water, Eve, and surely we need not keep up the farce 
when we are alone.” 

“ Excepting that every lapse from our self-imposed for- 
mality is another risk for you. You cannot be too careful, 
Will. Your being my poor Agnes’ husband will have no 
power to save you from the consequences of your crime if 
you lay yourself open to discovery. It will only drag her 
down with yourself.” 

“ Don’t be hard, Eve. I have lost so much (take it 
altogether) that I don’t seem to mind what happens to me 
next.” 

“ Surely you care for your wife ? ” cried Eve indig- 
nantly. 

“Yes, yes, of course; but you care for her far more 
than I do, and that is her best safeguard. You know I 
couldn’t have married her, or any one who had not a set- 
tlement. Say what you will, Eve, this marriage has been 


MOUNT EDEN. 


207 


a cruel disappointment to me, as well as an injury to her. 
How am I to support her? That is the question.” 

“ You must work, as other men have done before you,” 
replied Evelyn ; “ my Agnes is well worth working for.” 

“ But in what capacity ? When it comes to baptismal 
certificates, and credentials, and all that sort of flummery, 
where shall I stand ? ” 

“ Will,” said Eve presently, “ since you are here, tell 
me the truth. Have you any income at all? You told me 
when first we met, that your employer had left you five 
thousand pounds, and that you had bought an annuity 
with it, but somehow I never quite believed the story. 
Have you three hundred a year or not ? ” 

He fidgeted about his chair for some minutes before he 
could find an answer. Then he said : — 

“ It was three thousand pounds I mentioned, was it 
not ? ” 

“ No ; it was five thousand,” replied Evelyn determin- 
ately, “and you declared you drew three hundred a year 
from it. Is it the case ? I insist upon hearing the truth 
from you.” 

“Well, Eve, whatever you may have imagined,” he said 
at last, “ it was not as much as five thousand. It was 
deposited in the bank of Florence, and at the time I pro 
posed to Agnes I fully intended to get a good investment 
for it. But, what with the expenses antecedent to my 
marriage, and the trip to Teignmouth, and — and — subse- 
quent necessity for ready cash, I — I — •” 

Evelyn rose suddenly from her seat, and walked up to 
the mantelpiece. 

“You mean,” she said indignantly, “that you have 
nothing ? ” 

“ My dear Eve, you were always good at guessing, and 
that is really the truth. Unfortunate devil that I am — I 
have nothing. I trusted to the fine promises of my father- 
in-law, and this is the end of it. Agnes and I are penni- 
less.” 

“ My poor Agnes. My poor darling. Reared in every 
luxury,” murmured Evelyn, “ how will she bear the life 
before her? ” 

“ And if I hadn’t been a poor weak fool, listening to evil 
counsel and unable to resist the first temptation offered 
to me, I might have had Mount Eden to lay at her feet to- 
day,” continued Jasper Lyle. 


208 


MOUNT EDEN. 


But it was doubtful if Miss Rayne heard him. 

“ Will,” she exclaimed, turning round upon him, “ you 
must work. It is imperative.” 

“I know that, Eve, and I am willing enough, but what 
can I do? You know the obstacles that lie in my path.” 

“We will overcome them,” she hastily replied. “You 
are still young. You must begin life afresh, and I will 
exert my influence to the uttermost to procure you employ- 
ment suited to your ability. And till I am successful, you 
and Agnes must look upon Mount Eden as your heme. 
I cannot — I will not let my darling girl go forth into a 
world she has never yet encountered till you have prepared 
a home for her.” 

This was just what he had wished for — board and lodging 
free at Mount Eden until the day he could get something 
equivalent. And he resolved that day should be long in 
coming. 

“ My dear Eve,” he ventured to say, as he drew near to 
her, and tried to take her hand, “ how good you are. You 
have not quite forgotten your poor, graceless cousin, what- 
ever you may think, no more than he has ever forgotten you. 
Agnes and I will accept your hospitality for a little while, 
till I have had time to look around me, and consider what 
is best to be done. I have been thinking ever since I 
ascertained the miserably low state of my exchequer, that 
— that — ” 

“ Well ? ” said Evelyn, in a voice that was almost harsh, 
and certainly constrained. 

“ That perhaps you might find me work to do upon 
Mount Eden. I am not proud, you know, and you seem 
to employ a good many fellows, of different sorts on the 
estate. That chap Philips (or whatever his'name is), for 
instance. I dare say you pay him a big salary. Why 
shouldn’t you let me do his work for you ? I’ll be bound 
I could do it just as well, and at about half the expense.” 

Evelyn turned eyes of calm contempt upon him 

“ Are you suggesting that I should send Captain Philip 
away, Will, and put you in his vacant shoes? Do you 
know what Captain Philip does for me — that he is my right 
hand (or rather, I should say, my head), and not only 
directs the whole of the farming operations, but receives 
my rents and pays my laborers, and is, in fact, the osten- 
sible landlord of Mount Eden? ” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


209 


“ And why shouldn’t I be so? ” demanded Jasper Lyle. 

But he had gone a step too far. 

“ You forget ,” said Evelyn coldly, “ that such a situation 
can only be held by a man who bears a strictly upright 
character. I am sorry for you,” she continued, seeing his 
look of shame. “ I know such truths are hard to bear, 
but you should be wiser than to provoke them. And I 
have not the least intention of parting with Captain Philip’s 
services, even for you." 

“ I suppose you will always throw it in my teeth,” he 
murmured, and then she feared she had been cruel. 

“ No, Will ; don’t say that. But you would not be 
competent to fill Captain Philip’s place under any circum- 
stances ; besides, my people are all used to him. But I will 
think about giving you employment on Mount Eden. I will 
consult Captain Philip on the subject, and see what I can 
do. Meanwhile, you must make yourself and Agnes happy 
here, and believe how heartily welcome you are to any- 
thing I may possess.” 

“ I knew you would say that if ever we came together 
again,” he said, with an attempt to fondle her ; “ I felt, Eve, 
that you would never quite forget the time when we swore 
that, whichever got Mount Eden should share it with the 
other — the time when we fully believed we should enjoy it 
together as man and wife. These were happy days. I 
would to God they could come over again.” 

“ Mr. Lyle,” said Evelyn calmly, “ I have been betrayed 
once or twice this evening into addressing you by the old 
name, because it is very difficult to shake off the habits of 
one’s youth, but it must be for the last time— indeed, after 
to-night, I must decline to speak to you alone. We 
entered into that compact, you may remember, when I 
consented you should marry Agnes. The time you speak 
of is as dead as you wish your identity to be-, and I have 
nothing in common with Jasper Lyle, except as it relates 
to my dearest friend. If I can do anything for you in the 
future, it will be done for her sake, not for yours ; and the 
return I exact from you is, that you shall never again 
attempt to speak to me alone, nor to call me by my Chris- 
tian name, nor to betray, in any way, that you have ever 
known me, except as Miss Rayne of Mount Eden.” 

11 You are cruel to me,” he whispered. 

“ I am not cruel — I am only just. Nothing should, nor 


210 


MOUNT EDEN. 


will pass between us but what Agnes may hear ; and I put 
it to you if you will improve your position by forcing me 
to let her know who you are, and what you are." 

“ I know that I am at your mercy, Eve — I mean Miss 
Rayne” he answered bitterly ; “and that you can dictate 
what terms you choose.” 

“ I am glad you know it, and those are the only terms 
on which you can remain at Mount Eden. You must de- 
cide whether they are worth your acceptance ; and now, I 
am going to bed. I am glad you have been open with me, 
and if lean ameliorate your condition, I will. Good-night.” 

She passed from the room without even touching his 
hand as she spoke, and notwithstanding his effrontery, 
Jasper Lyle felt small. 

The next day, when Evelyn and Captain Philip had 
ridden round the farm and outlying cattle sheds, she turned 
to him somewhat abruptly, and said, — 

“ Have we any particular work to do this morning, Cap- 
tain Philip ? ” 

“ I think not, Miss Rayne, unless you wish to superin- 
tend the drainage of the Long Acre." 

“ But the men are only excavating to-day. It will be 
time enough to look them up in the afternoon — and I have 
something particular to talk to you about. Can you spare 
an hour to ride along the St. Ottery Road with me? ” 

Captain Philip flushed up to his bronzed forehead with 
pleasure. 

“ You know, Miss Rayne, that my time is yours." 

“ All right, then. Let us be off. I am going to consult 
you, Captain Philip, as a friend, and as a friend I trust you 
will set me right where I am wrong. I had a most unplea- 
sant conversation with Mr. Lyle last night. His prolonged 
absence in Italy rather raised my suspicions, and in answer 
to a point blank question which I put to him regarding his 
means of keeping Agnes, he was obliged to confess that he 
has nothing !” 

“ An adventurer — I thought as much," said her com- 
panion. 

“ I admire him for one thing," resumed Evelyn. “ I 
don’t think he married his wife under false pretences. I 
remember Agnes telling me, whQn she announced her 
engagement, that her lover had no fortune, but that her 
father had said that should make no difference, as he had 


MOUNT EDEN. 


21 r 


plenty for both. He also promised to settle twenty thou- 
sand pounds on her on her wedding day, and the deed was 
actually drawn up, and ready for signature, when Mr. 
Featherstone destroyed himself. So that, when Mr. Lyle 
talks as if he were the injured party, I cannot quite disagree 
with him.” 

“ Perhaps not. At the same time, no man of spirit 
would consent to be entirely dependent on his wife. He 
Would follow a profession of his own, however small the 
proceeds of it might be. Under the circumstances, I can- 
not understand Mr. Featherstone giving his daughter to 
a man without a farthing.” 

“ Mr. Featherstone believed Mr. Lyle to have three 
hundred a year. I think I have told you the same story.” 

“ And has he not, then, Miss Rayne ? ” 

“ I am afraid so. He stammered and stuttered a great 
deal over the confession last night, but finally admitted 
that his money is all gone. I suppose that, in the prospect 
of his marriage, and relying on Mr. Featherstone’s promises, 
he has been entrenching on his principal.” 

£ * It must have been a grand principal,” laughed Captain 
Philip. 

“ I expect it was only a thousand or two,” replied Eve- 
lyn ; “ but that is nothing to the purpose now. The ques- 
tion is, Captain Philip, how is he to support his wife ? It 
is cruelly hard on her, who has never known what it is to 
have a wish ungratified since she was born. But Mr. Lyle 
seems willing to work, and has, indeed, applied to me for 
employment. Can we give him anything to do on Mount 
Eden ? ” 

Captain Philip turned his whole body round in his saddle 
to regard her. 

“ You mean, Miss Rayne, can we make anything for Mr. 
Lyle to do ? ” 

“ Well, yes. But it comes to the same thing.” 

“ Not quite. In the first place, what can he do ? ” 

“ I don’t know. Anvthing, I suppose, than an ordinary 
man could do.” 

“ Would you like him to take my place ? Shall I turn 
out ? ” demanded Captain Philip. 

Evelyn flashed one look at him from her speaking eyes, 
but answered quickly, — 

“ You are not an ordinary man, Captain Philip, and I 


212 


MOUNT EDEN. 


don’t know what I said to call for your remark. But, of 
course, you were only jesting. But could not Mr. Lyle 
relieve you of some of your work, — you do far too much, 
you know, — and so give you more time for yourself? ” 

“ Miss Rayne,” said the overseer, “ you honored me, on 
commencing this conversation, by saying you wished to 
consult me as a friend. As a friend, then, may I ask if 
you know anything more of Mr. Lyle than that he is Miss 
Featherstone’s husband? Do you know anything of his 
former life or antecedents ? ” 

Evelyn changed color. She was not used to telling false- 
hoods, and this was a difficult thrust to parry. She was 
compelled to resort to evasion. 

“ Isn’t it enough for me to know that he is Agnes’ hus- 
band, and wants money to support her ? ” 

“Not quite — if you intend to trust him with money of 
your own. Forgive me for speaking plainly, but you must 
consider the interests of Mount Eden. Honestly, I have 
never quite liked or trusted Mr. Lyle. He does not ap- 
pear to me open or at his ease ; and I strongly suspect 
there is something in the background he does not care to 
allude to. Sometimes I have even thought that he does 
not go by his own name.” 

Evelyn started, and Captain Philip noticed it. 

“What makes you think so?” she demanded breath- 
lessly ; “ has he ever betrayed himself — I mean, has he 
ever said anything to justify your opinion? ” 

“ No ; it is only an idea, and I may be wrong, but I have 
seen all sorts of people in my time, Miss Rayne, and have 
become very ’cute. I notice that Mr. Lyle never refers to 
h'is family or his past life. He seems to be an unit in the 
world, and that is unusual in a bridegroom.” 

“ Oh, never mind his family nor his past life,” cried Eve- 
lyn, almost fretfully. “ He is Agnes’ husband — nothing 
can undo that, nor the necessity that he should work for 
her. Do try and make a place for him, Captain Philip — a 
mere honorary appointment, if you like. I have promised 
they shall stay on at Mount Eden till he has a home to 
take my dear girl to, and—” 

“ You have pro?nised they shall live at Mount Eden ? ” 
exclaimed the overseer interrupting her in his surprise. 

“ Yes. Why not ? How could I have acted otherwise ? 
Qh, Captain Philip, you don’t understand me ! I care 


MOUNT EDEN. 


213 


nothing about Mr. Lyle. I don’t trust him, perhaps, any 
more than you do. I — I — wish, in fact, he had never come 
here. But— think of my Agnes, and how long she has 
been my most loving friend. There is nothing in this world 
I care for as 1 do for her. How can I let her leave me 
for a man who has no money to support her on — who has 
not, as I believe, the capability to make money? He was 
always shifty — I mean,” said Evelyn, quickly correcting 
herself, “I can see his has been an unreliable character 
from boyhood.” 

“ Oh ! ” replied Captain Philip dubiously, •'* you’re 
‘ cuter ’ than I am,' Miss Rayne.” 

“ Never mind what I am ; but tell me if ( loving my 
darling girl as I do ) I could let her leave Mount Eden 
now ? When I first came here with Uncle Roger, a heart- 
sick, friendless girl, — as penniless as she is now, — ‘her 
parents were like a father and mother to me, and gave me 
their daughter for a sister. That is ten years ago, and 
never once, till this terrible calamity fell on their house, 
did they fail to show me sympathy, and kindness, and hos- 
pitality. Tell me, Captain Philip, could I do less for their 
child now — could I refuse to share my plenty with her, or 
to afford her the shelter of my roof? ” 

“ No ; you could not. I fully admit that,” replied Cap- 
tain Philip. 

“ And how can I do so without admitting her husband to 
the same advantages? So — for Agnes’ sake — you see we 
must find something to employ him at Mount Eden.” 

“ Very well, Miss Rayne, it shall be done. You had 
better give him a place under me, and I can employ’ him 
to overlook the mechanical labor — such as draining, and 
stacking, and storing — whilst I am busy with the building 
leases and landlord’s rents.” 

“ Thank you, Captain Philip. You always help me out 
of a difficulty. There are other reasons, which I cannot 
tell you, which make me glad to be able to oblige Mr. 
Lyle. And, indeed, I consider it part of my responsibility 
as a landowner to help those who are less fortunate than 
myself.” 

“ Then you act up to your principles nobly, Miss Rayne. 
No one can complain of your being backward to help the 
needy. Your tenantry say they never had so generous a 
landlord before.” 


214 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ I am glad of it,” replied Evelyn. “ I only hope, if my 
Cousin Hugh ever comes back to claim Mount Eden, that 
he will not call me to account for wasting the property.” 

“ How curious it seems to hear you so often allude to 
the idea of this fabulous cousin turning up again, Miss 
Rayne. One would think you wanted him to do so.” 

“Well, I couldn’t be sorry — it would be too unnatural; 
and I daresay he would let me live in a little corner of 
Mount Eden still. Uncle used to say he was such a dear, 
generous-hearted boy.” 

“ I think it is great waste of time even speculating on 
the chances of a drowned man appearing to bother you,” 
said Captain Philip, with a shrug of the shoulder. 

“ But do you know I often do,” replied Evelyn eagerly. 
“ I dream, sometimes, that he has come back, and that I 
am so pleased. Perhaps I shouldn’t be in reality, but still 
I should be thankful that the real heir had come into his 
birthright, and I think poor dear uncle would see it, and 
be thankful too.” 

“ Had you no other cousins, beside Hugh Caryll, Miss 
Rayne ? ” asked Captain Philip. 

Evelyn started again. Was it possible that her over- 
seer could suspect the truth ? But she managed to laugh 
as she replied, — 

“ Several ; but they mostly died young, and I lived at 
Liverpool, away from the rest of the family.” 

“ I have heard your late uncle’s clerk, Mr. Gamble, men- 
tion a William Caryll, who once expected to inherit Mount 
Eden.” 

“ Oh, yes,” replied Evelyn hurriedly, with a face of 
scarlet, “ I had a cousin William, but he was unfortunate, 
and — and — we never speak of him. Captain Philip, this 
is a lovely bit of turf. Let us have a canter,- and blow all 
our disagreeable thoughts away.” 

And so she broke olf the conversation, and gave him no 
further opportunity to refer to her Cousin William. 

That evening she disclosed to Mr. Lyle, in the presence 
of his wife, what she intended to do for them both. You 
may be sure she made no favor of her benefits. On the 
contrary, she mentioned the situation as one that required 
filling, and the handsome salary she had decided to give 
with it, as a mere nominal remuneration for Mr. Lyle’s 
services. Both husband and wife were very grateful to 


MOUNT EDEN. 


2I 5 


her — he, perhaps, the more so of the two, as he knew how 
little he deserved her kindness, and how much he stood in 
need of her assistance. Agnes, who knew nothing of the 
value of money, nor the difficulty of making it, thought 
much more of the pleasure of living with her friend than of 
anything else. 

“Oh, my darling Evelyn,” she cried, as she flung herself 
into her arms, “to live always with you, and at Mount 
Eden ! Could anything be more delightful ? Isn’t it 
what I have always longed for? Used I not to cry, 
when a child, every time the servant appeared to fetch 
me home ; and wasn’t it the greatest treat in the world 
to be allowed to stop and sleep with you? And now 
I shall be able to see you every day. Oh, I am pleased ! 
And, Jasper, you are a darling clever thing to be able to 
look after Mount Eden for her. I declare I feel almost 
glad we were cheated out of that settlement.” 

“ Not quite that , my darling,” said Evelyn, as she pressed 
the sweet face against her bosom and thanked God silently 
for giving her the power to shield it from the sharp sting of 
poverty \ “ I would make you independent of me to-mor- 
row if I could ; but since that cannot be, we will be thank- 
ful that ( whatever has been taken from us ) we still have 
each other." 

And Jasper Lyle, regarding them, wondered if, when 
Evelyn alluded to her losses, she was thinking of him f 


CHAPTER XXI. 

THE MARQUETRIE CABINET. 

Jasper Lyle was duly established in the position that had 
been made for him, and the weeks went on. But before 
the harvest had been garnered in, Evelyn was forced to 
acknowledge that she had taken a responsibility on herself 
that bid fair to yield more pain than pleasure. All her 
love for Agnes, and her strong desire to shield her from the 
hard knocks of the world, could not shut her eyes to the fact 
that Mr. Lyle was an element of discord, hitherto unknown 
on her peaceful and well-ordered estate. Complaint after 
complaint reached her ears, not only of his indolence, but 


216 


MOUNT EDEN. 


% 

his insolence, which neither tenants nor laborers would put 
up with. He walked about Mount Eden, indeed, as if he 
were the lord of the soil, and people were beginning to ask 
who was this insolent upstart, and what Miss Rayne was 
about to allow him to usurp her rightful authority. 

If he were set to superintend the excavation of a drain, 
he walked away before the work was half over, leaving the 
men to their own devices. If he sauntered for an hour 
into the harvest-field, he found the heat and the fatigue too 
much for him, and finished the afternoon upon the sofa, in 
company with his cigar and a novel. Evelyn had gener- 
ously told him to select which animal he liked best in her 
stables, to be kept for his especial use ; but he chose to 
ride all of them by turn, and, being no horseman, he 
usually lamed or over-heated them, and once he was thrown, 
to the stablemen’s intense delight. 

“ It’s wicked , Miss, the way Mr. Lyle ’ammers ’em along 
the road, as if ’osses was made of iron,” the head groom 
remarked deprecatingly to Evelyn, who loved her horses 
like friends, and would indignantly resolve to tell Jasper he 
should never ride any of them again. 

But, somehow, when the opportunity occurred, she never 
seemed to have the courage to do so. She could not for- 
get who he was, nor that they had sworn to share Mount 
Eden together. That was the secret of her forbearance. 

But Captain Philip never carried any stories of Jasper 
Lyle to Miss Rayne. He knew she heard them, but he 
would not be the one. to tell them to her. In the first 
place, he did not quite feel as if he could trust himself — he 
hated the man too much. Jn the second, he was sure the 
arrangement would never last, but he preferred it should 
come to a close through the means of others. So he stood 
aloof, and held his tongue when the subject of Mr. Lyle 
came on the tapis. He admired Evelyn’s motives for 
befriending him, and he did not think she whould like the 
person any the better who opened her eyes to his short- 
comings. 

But Evelyn could not fail to see it all for herself, and 
another thing with it, namely, that Jasper Lyle was in 
every respect the same man that Will Caryll had been, 
only with his vices and weaknesses strengthened, instead 
of destroyed, by time. She could remember her cousin’s 
selfishness in the days gone by, his want of truth, his airy 


MOUNT EDEN. 


217 


method of treating advice, the unconcerned way in which 
he slurred his duty. She had not thought so much of it 
then. She had been a child in ignorance of the world and 
the men who lived in it, and if Will’s carelessness shocked 
her, she felt sure he had never intended it to do so. But 
now she regarded him by the light of experience. She had 
met with honest and true, and industrious men, and 
knew their value, and she could see plainly what a frivolous 
useless butterfly Will Caryll had become. 

To an energetic nature like Evelyn Rayne’s, the sight 
was a sickening one, but beyond a few mild remonstrances, 
she never rebuked him for his laziness or his presumption. 
She was so terribly afraid of what he might say or do if 
he lost his temper with her or himself. And it was because 
he had guessed her feelings on. the subject that Jasper 
Lyle went on his way unblushingly, and pleased himself in 
everything. He knew that Evelyn could not strike at him 
without hurting Agnes, and that she would bear anything 
sooner than see her turned out of Mount Eden. His wife 
was his strong weapon, and, since he had missed marry- 
ing Evelyn, he blessed his stars for having guided him to 
her. He could hardly have extracted more pleasure from 
Mount Eden if the estate had been literally his own, and 
he would (as he told himself) have had a deuced deal more 
trouble. The handsome salary that Evelyn paid him for 
his supposed services was ample to provide his wife and 
himself with pocket money, and, for the rest, they were 
provided for. 

As the time went on, he became more and more indolent 
and presuming. He gave up even the appearance of 
doing work, and lounged about the property all day, with 
a velveteen coat on, and a cigar between his lips, whilst he 
numbered some men amongst his friends who were anything 
but desirable acquaintances for one who called himself a 
gentleman. His old proclivity for making companions of 
those beneath him in station showed itself again, and Eve- 
lyn was vexed by hearing that her steward (as Lyle was 
supposed to be) had been seen in the village alehouse, 
cohorting with her own tenantry, and even with discharged 
servants. She spoke to Jasper on that occasion, and rather 
sharply, telling him that he was going too far, and that 
she would not allow him to bring disgrace on her or on 
Mount Eden. He knew the tool to use against her, and 
he used it. 


218 


MOUNT EDEN. 


u All right,” he answered sullenly ; “ I am not aware that 
I’ve done anything to call forth such a show of temper on 
your part, but if you don’t approve of my conduct, we had 
better go” 

“ Go ! Where can you go ? ” she exclaimed. 

“Anywhere. What does it signify? Agnes has cast 
in her lot with mine, and she must abide by it. I’ll take 
her to London, and we can live in a single room till I find 
work, and, if I don’t find it, we can starve. You have not, 
at least, the power to prevent that.” 

“Oh, Will, don’t speak so stupidly. Ycu know I 
wouldn’t allow you to do any such thing. You know that 
I am only too ready and willing to share eveiy thing I 
possess with you and my sweet Agnes. You shall not 
take her away from me -until you can do so with comfort 
to herself. Only, be more careful. These stories reach 
me from all sides, and they are not creditable. I don’t 
like to hear of my cousin — I mean my steward — being 
seen in the village alehouse. You must keep up appear- 
ances for Mount Eden’s sake.” 

“ I suppose it is that fellow Philip who retails these lies 
about me?” returned Lyle gloomily. “ I know he hates 
me, and would be pleased to do me an injury. I think 
he’d better look to himself — a double-dealing, foul-mouthed 
cad.” 

Evelyn flew at him like a fury. No remembrance of the 
old love rose to soften her speech then. Indeed, the old 
love was so thoroughly dead and buried by that time, that 
it is doubtful if the recollection would have not incensed 
her more. 

“ Do not presume to speak in such terms of Captain 
Philip to me,” she exclaimed. “ He is an upright and 
honorable gentleman, above suspicion in every possible 
way, and you should consider it an honor to be permitted 
to work under him. If you abuse and insult him, ycu will 
lose my favor for ever. Understand me plainly, Mr. Lyle, 
Captain Philip is the real head of this estate, and those 
who cannot submit to his authority may leave it. He has 
never repeated any tales of you to me. He is too gener- 
ous to try and injure his fellow-creatures. They have 
been told me by my servants, more accidentally than with 
malice prepense, but you- should never have given cause 
for the repetition.” 


MOUNT EDEN 


219 


Jasper Lyle shrugged his shoulders. 

“ I really think I had better adhere to my proposition, 
and take my wife away from Mount Eden. I had no idea 
that Captain Philip’s name would raise such a storm of 
opposition on your part, or that he was king of the estate. 
Perhaps you have some intention of making him so in right 
earnest. In that case, let me wish you joy.” 

The insulting tone and words stung Evelyn to the quick. 
Had he been unmarried then, she would have reversed all 
her former concessions in his favor, and publicly denounced 
him as a forger and an imposter. 

But he was not unmarried. Agnes’ lot must for ever- 
more be linked with his. So she turned from him with 
a look of irrepressible scorn, and entered the house in 
silence. 

But Jasper Lyle cared very little about her anger. 
Since he had lived at Mount Eden, and seen the evident 
alteration in her manner towards him, the feelings of grati- 
tude which had first possessed him had entirely evaporated, 
and been replaced by a great desire for retaliation and 
revenge. His weak, self-satisfied nature could not recognize 
the justice of her possessing Mount Eden. He looked 
upon it as an injury to himself, and one which (if possible) 
he should resent. And one of his low companions — a certain 
brewer named Mullins — had put an idea in his head a short 
time before, which had settled, and was fermenting there. 
Lyle had grown very bold in going about Mount Eden and 
St. Mary Ottery, and discussing the affairs of Miss Raync, 
and the antecedents of the Caryll family. He was satisfied 
there was no further chance of his detection ; he would 
have walked into the presence of Mr. Gamble himself with- 
out fear, and he wanted to find out exactly how the land 
lay concerning himself. Villagers are always ready enough 
to discuss the histories of the families who rule over their 
domain, and repeat all the rumors, scandalous or other- 
wise,* concerning them. Consequently, Jasper Lyle was 
not long before he had heard the whole story of his uncle’s 
bereavement and his own delinquency, and how that was 
the reason that a woman reigned at Mount Eden. 

“ I wonder,” he said musingly, one afternoon, to his 
friend Mullins the brewer — “ I wonder how the estate is 
left,to Miss Rayhe.” 

“ Well, I can’t tell you for certain, sir, but I’ve heard the 


220 


MOUNT EDEN. 


old gentleman was rather queer on one point, and that was 
the possibility of the son that was drownded turning up 
again. You see, he’d never seen the body, and he couldn’t 
believe it, like, and he wouldn’t have the will destroyed in 
which he’d left this son everything, in case he came home. 
So Miss Rayne holds the estate, as it were, in trust for him ; 
but, bless you, he couldn’t never come back now. He’s 
been dead, poor chap, years and years ago.” 

“But Mr. Caryll had another son, or a cousin, hadn’t he, 
that he wished to make his heir? ” inquired Lyle cautiously. 

“ Oh, a nevy ! yes, but bless you, the poor young fellow 
went wrong. Forged a bill, or summat, and bolted to 
America, and has never been heard of since. Dead like 
the other, fnost likely. I’ve never been to America myself, 
but I’ve heard people mostly dies there.” 

“It is to be hoped he is. It might be awkward for 
Miss Rayne if he came home again.” 

“ I don’t see that, sir. What harm could he do ? You 
see he’s a forger. The police would have him as soon as 
he set foot in England.” 

“But who holds the proofs of his forgery, Mullins?” 

“Ah! I don’t know that, sir. They’ve got them in 
Scotland Yard, perhaps. They wouldn’t let such things 
be destroyed.” 

“ I wonder,” said Jasper Lyle, “ if they were destroyed, 
by accident or otherwise, and the runaway nephew returned, 
he would have any chance of getting a share of the pro- 
perty ? ” 

Nothing more was said on the subject at that moment, 
but a few days after, as Lyle was again enjoying the company 
of his friend the brewer, Mullins said suddenly to him, — 

“ By the way, Mr. Lyle, you was a-speculating last time 
as we sat here, whether that nevy of the late Mr. Caryll’s, 
if he was to come to England, would have any chance of 
getting Mount Eden ? ” 

“ Provided the proofs of his crime had not been kept 
against him. It was mere curiosity on my part. The law 
is so intricate, and a man would not be likely to let a place 
like Mount Eden slip through his hands if there was any 
chance of claiming it.” 

“Well, sir, here’s a friend of mine here as could put it 
all plain before you — Mr. Dickson, as is head clerk to the 
solicitors at St. Mary Ottery. Mr. Dickson, sir,” continued 


MOUNT EDEN. 


221 


Mullins, bawling across the tap-room, “ come this way and 
have a glass of summat with me and this gentleman, Mr. 
Lyle, one of the stewards of Mount Eden.” 

“ It’s really not worth troubling Mr. Dickson about,” 
said Jasper Lyle carelessly. “ It is a matter of no conse- 
quence v Merely a discussion whether, in case of there 
being no proofs against this runaway nephew of Mr. CarylPs, 
he might not come home some day and claim the estates.” 

“ Oh, .the Mount Eden scandal,” replied the clerk 
laughing. “ I don’t know, I’m sure ; I believe it’s a moot 
question. It depends entirely upon the wording of the 
will. I have heard it said that the late Mr. Caryll was so 
certain that his nephew could never visit England, on 
account of the forgery, that he merely left his property to 
his niece as next-of-kin, and not to the entire exclusion of 
all other heirs. Indeed, the old gentleman believed so 
fully to the day of his death that his son might some day 
return, that Miss Rayne only holds Mount Eden contingent 
to that very improbable event. In which case, if a nearer 
relation (as of course the nephew would be) came forward 
to dispute her claim, I should think it would make a pretty 
question of law whether he would not be entitled tq, at 
least, a part of the estate. But then, you see, this nephew 
was a forger, and could never show himself in a court of 
law, so there’s an end of it. Whoever holds the forged 
cheques would only have to produce them to squash the 
whole concern.” 

“ We were supposing the proofs to be lost, or destroyed.” 
“ People don’t destroy such things. They are sure to be 
in the possession of the firm.” 

“ But for the sake of argument, Mr. Dickson, let us 
suppose they are lost, and the man came back. Could the 
firm convict him upon hearsay evidence only ? ” 

“ No, nor likely to take the trouble to do so. What good 
would they get of it ? ” 

“ They might wish to taxe their revenge.” 

“ Then they’d have to produce their proofs. You can 
do nothing in law without proof. And the nephew would 
have to prove he was the nephew into the bargain.” 

“ Surely that would be easy enough ? ” 

“ Easy, but not agreeable. Such gentlemen don’t care, 
as a rule, to push themselves too much forward. However, 
if all parties were good natured, I don’t say it isn’t to be 


222 


MOUNT EDEN. 


done. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I must be going,” 
and Mr. Dickson made his way back to St. Ottery. 

His conversation had a strong effect upon Lyle’s mind. 
He ruminated on it for hours before he returned to Mount 
Eden. 

“ There is one thing I must do,” he decided, “ and that 
is to get hold of those forged cheques. It is a shame that 
Evelyn should have kept them by her for so long. What 
could have been her motive but to keep me in her power, 
and have a life-long hold over me? And that is what 
women call love. Bah ! It is the first step to be taken, 
and I shall not be easy till it is accomplished. In her 
nasty state of mind she might change their hiding-place, or 
deposit them with her solicitors, and blight all my hopes 
for ever.” 

From that day Jasper Lyle took every opportunity of 
examining the marquetrie cabinet, in which he had seen 
Evelyn place the records of his crime. It stood in her 
private sitting-room, but she spent many hours out of the 
house each day, and the window commanded the approach 
by which she must needs come home again. So when 
Anna (who was the only servant privileged to enter her 
mistress’ room) was out of the way, Jasper pursued his 
research with comparative safety. But the cabinet resisted 
all his efforts. It was one of these old-fashioned, sub- 
stantially-built pieces of furniture that have not been knock- 
ed together in a day. It consisted of two beautifully-inlaid 
panel doors, which locked securely over a secretary desk 
and nest of drawers, which closed with a different key. 
The lock was a Bramah. Mr. Lyle could not pick it, though 
he was clever at such artifices, neither could he interfere 
(unnoticed) with tlfe hinges of the panel doors. His only 
chance was to open it with its own keys. The question 
was how to get at them ? Evelyne Rayne was very 
practical, not at all the sort of woman to have her 
keys lying about for any one to meddle with. But he 
did not think she always carried them about with her 
either. There was too large a bunch of them for that. 
He ventured into the adjoining bedroom once or twice, 
and with one ear open for an approaching footstep, looked 
round carefully for a key-basket, and peeped into the little 
boxes on the toilet-table, and the vases on the mantelshelf 
without finding what he wanted. But he was not ais- 


MOUNT EDEN. 


223 


couraged. He had learned more of the ways of womankind 
during his ten years' expatriation than he would have 
cared his wife to know of, and he was up to many of their 
little feminine devices. And a favorite trick of the sex is 
(as he well knew) to hide their keys in a different place each 
day — sometimes under their handkerchiefs or veils, some- 
times in the crown of their best bonnet, sometimes in such 
a careful place that they can’t find then themselves when the 
next occasion demands it. And so Mr. Lyle commenced 
a regular search each morning in Evelyn’s wardrobe 
drawers ; and one day he lit upon the bunch of keys (as 
he had anticipated) inside the folds of a necktie. He 
grasped them eagerly. It was not an opportunity to be 
lost — it was one that might never occur again. With the 
keys in his hand, he entered the adjoining room, and 
listened from the landing. Not a sound was to be heard. 
The servants had finished all the upstairs work, and were 
busy preparing for their dinner in the servants’ hall. 
Evelyn .and Agnes had driven out together to St. Mary 
Ottery, and could not be home for another hour. Fate 
had thrown the chance straight into his lap. He returned 
to the sitting-room, and hastily unlocking the marquetrie 
cabinet began to search e&ch drawer in turn. They were 
all locked, but the two keys were together, and easily 
distinguished from the rest. In his agitation during their 
first interview, he had forgotten to note in which drawer 
Evelyn had replaced the forged cheques ; but he soon 
found them sealed up in an envelope, and endorsed with 
his uncle’s signature. They lay in company with his pho- 
tographs, and letters, and the soiled gloves and battered 
fusee-case before alluded to. 

“ I wonder if I had better take them all,” he thought to 
himself; “that fellow Dickson said the claimant might 
have some trouble to prove his identity, but I don’t see 
how these articles would help me. No one but a woman 
would keep such rubbish, but if Eve opened the drawer by 
chance, its complete emptiness would at once betray me. 
No ; I will only take these beastly cheques and the 
photographs. Thank goodness, I have been successful at 
last, and that worry, at least, is off my mind.” 

He hastily tore open the envelope to make sure he had 
got hold of the right papers, and then, thrusting them and 
the photographs into his coat pocket, he locked the drawers 


224 


MOUNT EDEN. 


and the cabinet, and replaced the bunch of keys where he 
had found them — between the folds of the necktie. He 
examined the two rooms carefully before he left them, to 
see that every article of furniture was in its accustomed 
place, and then, with a sigh of relief, he carried his stolen 
goods to his own chamber. It was a sumptuous apait- 
ment that Evelyn had given over for the use of Mr. and 
Mrs. Lyle. The bed and window hangings were of rich 
damask, and the floor was carpeted with velvet pile. In 
the deep bay window stood a couch and a writing table, 
laden with every convenience for Agnes’ private corres- 
pondence. The wax taper and the box of vestas were 
conveniently near each other. Jasper lighted the candle, 
and deliberately burned the forged cheques to tinder. As 
the last spark died out of them, and they lay in black 
nothingness before him, he laughed aloud. 

“ There’s one link of my fetters broken,” he said, as he 
blew the ashes out of the window ; “ I don’t think any one 
will be able to bring up the forged cheques against Will 
Caryll now. And if Eve finds out her loss before the time 
is ripe, and accuses me of it, why, I shall defy her — that 
is all — coute que coute. ” 

He had hardly re-arranged the writing-table and changed 
his coat, and walked out into the grounds, before he 
encountered the carriage returning from St. Mary Ottery 
with the ladies. 

“ Oh, Jasper, dear,” exclaimed Agnes, “ how I wish you 
had been with us. It is the most heavenly day, and I saw 
exactly the sort of flannel coat you want for the morning, 
only I didn’t like to buy it without your sanction. Blue 
and white stripes — so pretty. And they have ties and 
socks to match. Where have you been, Jasper? In the 
house ? ” 

“In the house?” repeated Mr. Lyle, with magnificent 
scorn. “ I have been miles away, looking after my 
business.” 

Indeed,” remarked Evelyn ; “ I didn’t know we had 
any business to be done to day-miles away.” 

“You’re too hard on me, Miss Rayne. You make me 
no excuse for a fa<;on de parler . I should have said 
simply that I’ve spent my morning in the Three Bottom 
Acre, superintending the carrying of the corn. They’ve 
got it all in by this time, 1 expect.” 


MOV NT EDEN 


225 

u Yes, they have, “ replied Evelyn coolly. “ We have 
been watching them for the last hour.” 

Lyle bit his lip and turned away. 

“ But where were you, darling ? ” asked Agnes innocently. 
“ We never saw him, did we, Evelyn ? ” 

“ No, Agnes, we did not. But let us move on now, for 
I want my luncheon.” 

And she started her ponies so unceremoniously, that 
Jasper Lyle had to jump out of the way, with an oath, to 
avoid the wheel passing over his feet. This episode made 
him too sulky, or too shy to join them at luncheon, so he 
strolled down to his favorite public-house, and ordered 
what he required there instead, and then made a pretence 
of superintending the harvest until five o’clock, when he 
returned home to prepare himself for the dinner-table. 

As he entered his dressing-room, he glanced into the 
adjoining bed-chamber with the expectation of seeing his 
wife ready to go downstairs, intead of which she was 
sitting on the sofa in a loose wrapper, with red eyes and 
stained cheeks, and her gaze eagerly directed towards the 
door. 

“Why, whatever’s the matter?” he exclaimed, as he 
advanced towards her. 

“ Oh, Jasper, I have been longing for you to come back. 
I am in such distress. I don’t know what to do.” 

And here Mrs. Lyle began to weep afresh. 

“ Look, look,” she continued, as she held out her hand to 
him, “ what is the meaning of this? Who wrote it? Where 
did you know her? Can it be really true that you gave 
them to her? ” 

“ I don’t know what the d — 1 you’re talking about,” said 
Jasper irritably, as she sobbed out her string of questions; 
“ be more explicit, or I cannot answer you.” 

“ These — these,” replied Agnes, holding out her hand 
again, and then he perceived it held the photographs he 
had taken from themarquetrie cabinet. He had left them 
in his pocket when he had changed his coat, and Agnes had 
been exercising her marital right to put away his things. 
He swore under his breath as he took them from her, but 
it was too late to prevent mischief. On the back of one 
was written, in his hand, 11 To Cousin Evelyn, from Cousin 
Will; ” on the back of the other, in Evelyn’s, “ From my 
own darling Will,” with an appended date. As Jasper 


226 


MOUNT EDEN. 


looked at the inscriptions, and remembered that Agnes had 
heard the story of her early attachment from Evelyn’s own 
lips, his color came and went, and he realized that he 
must either brave the matter out by lying, or make his wife 
his confidant. 

“ Speak to me,” exclaimed Agnes hysterically; “tell me 
the meaning of it, for God’s sake. That is the same photo- 
graph you showed me at Featherstone Hall, and threw in 
the fire sooner than I should keep. Is it possible you are 
not Jasper Lyle — that you have deceived me — that you 
are Evelyn’s Cousin Will? Speak, or I shall go mad.” 

She was so fearfully agitated, that he was afraid to deceive 
her further. And after all, he thought, she was his wife, 
their interests were the same, and it would be wiser to take 
her into his confidence. But first he must do a little bit of 
love-making, at which, when he chose, Mr. William Caryll 
Jasper Lyle was particularly happy. So he went and sat 
down on the couch, and threw his arms about Agnes, and 
kissed her warmly. 

“ I will tell you everything,” he whispered, “ if you won’t 
cry. And first, you must know how I love you, Agnes.” 

“ Oh, yes, oh, yes,” she said, nestling to him ; “ and that 
nothing can loosen the close tie between us.” 

“ You are my wife, Agnes, — my very self, — and I will 
keep nothing from you. My name is not Jasper Lyle. It 
is William Caryll, and I am Evelyn Ray lie’s cousin.” 

She lifted her big blue eyes, wide opened, to his face. 
Her mouth had fallen apart like that of a frightened child. 
Her breath came in short gasps from her laboring breast. 

“ William Caryll ,” she repeated at length. “Oh, 
Jasper, and — she loved you /” 

Then the poor child broke down again, as the remem- 
brance of Evelyn’s words in speaking of that love, mingled 
with the thought that they were living under the same roof, 
overwhelmed her with a terrible dread of — she knew not 
what. 

“ Hush, Agnes, my darling. If you make your distress 
patent to the household, and this news gets about, you will 
lose me altogether. I will go back to America to-night, 
and you shall never see me again. Be patient, and you 
shall know everything, and confess I am not so much to 
blame.” 

“ But she loved you,” moaned Agnes. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“Years and years ago, but what of that? You can see 
very plainly that Miss Evelyn doesn’t love me to-day. 
Why, she is positively rude sometimes. It was a boy and 
girl attachment, which never would have come to anything. 
We were too young even to know what love meant. It was 
all rubbish, and forgotten long ago.” 

“ Evelyn hadn’t forgotten it. She told me (before she 
saw you) that all she was waiting for before she died was 
to see her Cousin Will again, that she was sure that he 
would come back to her, and that when he did, whether he 
was rich or poor, sick or well, he would find her as she had 
ever been — his true and faithful friend. Oh, is it possible 
that you can be him ? ” 

“It is possible, my dear. It is the fact. But you mustn’t 
think any more of anything Eve may have said about me. 
It was all talk. You sec I did come back, and she doesn’t 
love me — in fact, I think she has grown rather to dislike 
me now than otherwise.” , 

“ Oh, no ; she is always kind and good. See how she 
lets us live with her at Mount Eden. Jasper, does she 
know you are her cousin? When did she find it out? ” 

“ Directly she saw me, you little goose. Don’t you 
remember her leaving the Hall the first evening we met 
there ? And then I paid her a visit at Mount Eden, and 
we had it out ; and she promised to respect my incognito, 
and keep my secret. But something has happened lately, 
Agnes, which is likely to make me throw of! my disguise, 
and then I should have been obliged to tell you everything.” 

te Oh, tell it me now — I am so anxious to hear it,” said 
his wife. “ It is incomprehensible to me. Why did you 
drop your real name, and pretend you had never known 
Evelyn before? I should have thought the first place you 
would have rushed to would have been Mount Eden, to see 
such a darling cousin, and tell her you were alive and well. 
How could you pretend you had never even heard her 
name ? ” 

“ Agnes, my dear, that is a very long story, that cannot 
be told in a minute, and the first dinner bell has rung. 
Dress yourself now and come downstairs, and you shall 
hear everything this evening, I promise you.” 

“ Oh, Jasper, as if I could go down to dinner with this 
dreadful news half told. Why, I am shaking all over with 
anxiety and fear. How could I look my darling Evelyn in 


228 


MOUNT EDEN. 


the face ? Her Cousin Will my husband ! I cannot believe 
it. It is too awful to be true.” 

“ And would you have me hers , then, instead ? Don’t 
you love me, Agnes? ” asked Lyle, in his tenderest voice. 

“ Oh, Jasper, you know I do, and I could not give you 
up to any woman — not even her." 

“ Nor would she take me as a gift, Agnes. She has got 
all over that long ago. Now, lie down on the sofa, my 
darling, and I will send you up your dinner, and join you 
as soon as ever I can afterwards ; and then, Agnes, you 
shall know all." 

“ Don’t let Evelyn come to me,” cried Agnes, hiding 
her face. “ Not yet, I could not bear it.” 

“ No one shall come but myself. I will bring up your 
dinner. And remember, Agnes, this is a profound secret, 
and you must not breathe a word of what I have told you 
to any one.” 

“ Not even to Evelyn? ” 

“ Not till I give you leave. You promise me, Agnes?” 

“ I promise you,” she said, as she hid her face from 
view again. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE RIGHTFUL HEIR. 

Jasper Lyle had a motive for deferring the relation of 
his adventures till after dinner. He wanted time to decide 
how much of them he had better tell, and how much leave 
untold. He didn’t want to startle Agnes tco much at 
first, and forgery is an ugly word. If he* made her shrink 
from him, she would fly to Evelyn for consolation, and it 
was his object to detach her as much as possible from -her 
early friend. There was no doubt that war was brewing 
in the distance between his cousin and himself, and his 
wife must be on his side. And if he was ever to bring 
forward a claim to Mount Eden, it must be by a daring 
and complete denial of having committed the forgery, and 
bv defying his opponents to produce any proofs of it. 
Therefore, the only plan was to commence from that 
moment, and present himself to Agnes as a martyr instead 


MOUNT EDEN. 


229 


of a criminal. He was thinking so deeply all dinner time 
that he was very silent, and Evelyn was glad when the 
meal was concluded. She had proposed to go up to Agnes 
directly she heard she was not well enough to come down- 
stairs, but Jasper had declined the offer. His wife was a 
little overtired and hysterical, he said, and particularly 
wished to see no one but himself. And he had taken the 
dinner tray from the servant’s hands, and carried it up to 
the bedroom, whilst Evelyn sat still at the table, with feel- 
ings of mortified pride and resentment. How different it 
had been a short time ago. Then she would have been 
the first person whom Agnes would have asked for in trou- 
ble or sickness. But everything in her life seemed changed, 
and she realized (as so many have done before her) 
that where a husband’s authority steps in (however new 
and untried it may be), all other affections and interests 
have to take a back seat. Mt. Lyle returned to the dinner- 
table, but it was only to ask his hostess to excuse him for 
the remainder of the meal, and she was too glad to let him 
go. His company was at all times more pain than pleasure 
to her. 

He sauntered back into his wife’s room as if he had been 
a hero about to relate the story of his victories, rather than 
a criminal to confess his crime. He had gained a lot of 
effrontery since he had lived at Mount Eden, and the 
destruction of the forged cheques had made him stand two 
inches taller. He felt so safe that he had begun to believe 
he. was an injured man, and would experience no difficulty 
in saying so. He was not so handsome at this period as 
he had promised to be. Doubtless the change in the color 
of his hair had something to do with it. The fair curls 
with which he had started in life had accorded well with 
his blue eyes and delicate complexion. It will generally 
be found a dangerous experiment, with regard to beauty, 
to alter the natural coloring matter of the hair. But it 
may be remembered that when Evelyn Rayne, actuated by 
love, contrived so cleverly for her cousin’s escape from 
Liverpool, she dyed his hair brown, and Will Caryll had 
continued the practice, from a sense of prudence, until his 
locks were nearly black. This unnatural combination made 
his face look very pale, and his eyes washed out, and 
strangers seldom found the charms in him that Agnes did. 
They pronounced him “ foreign,” and “ queer-looking,” and 


230 


MOUNT EDEN. 


considered he was unhealthy. But he had a finely-devel- 
oped, tall, and upright figure, as indeed all the Carylls had, 
and his little wife 'thought him perfection. She was still 
gazing at his photographs as he re-entered her room. 

“ Jasper, if you hadn’t told me it was so, I never should 
have imagined these portraits were taken of you. How 
you must have altered since you were a boy.” 

“ I have altered in more ways than one, Agnes. I was 
a happy, hopeful youth when I sat for these photographs, 
and now I am a broken' down and disappointed man — 
more than that, darling, a most wronged and injured 
man.” 

Oh, my dearest,” cried the girl, clasping her arms 
about him, “ who is it that has wronged you ? I have 
always felt you were unhappy, Jasper. It was my great 
wish to comfort you that first drew me to you. But I 
thought it might be perhaps because you had lost all your 
friends, and had no companionship to cheer you. But 
uijury, darling ! I never dreamt of that.” 

“ And I would not have told you of it, Agnes, even now, 
excepting that, for the first time, there seems a glimmer of 
hope that my wrongs may be redressed. You see how 
poor I am, my darling. Even the miserable pittance I 
married you on has slipped out of my hands, and I am 
compelled to work almost like a laborer in order to pro- 
vide you with a home. You consider it very generous of 
my Cousin Evelyn to let us live at Mount Eden, Agnes — ” 
“ Oh, so it is, Jasper. What should we have done 
without her help ? Poor mamma could not assist us. I 
believe we should have starved.” 

“ I know those are your sentiments, and it is because I 
have been so loath to destroy them, and to hurt your feel- 
ings, that I have not set you right before. What would 
you say, Agnes, if I told you that, instead of being pen- 
sioners on Evelyn Rayne’s bounty, she should be living 
upon ours — that / am the rightful owner of Mount Eden, 
and my cousin is only an usurper? ” 

Agnes didn’t know what to say. She stared at her hus- 
band for a minute, as if she thought he had gone mad, and 
then she grew deadly pale, and murmured — 

“It cannot be true ! ” 

“It is true,” replied Jasper fiercely — “true as there is a 
God in heaven. You and I are the rightful possessors of 


MOUNT EDEN. 


231 


this estate, Agnes, and before long I will prove to the 
world that it is so.” 

“But Evelyn /” gasped his wife. “Oh, Jasper, you 
frighten me. Think of Evelyn. She cannot know it. She 
would be the last person in the world to do any one an 
injury. Mr. Caryll left Mount Eden to her. I know he 
did. How could she hold it else ? And since he did so, 
how can you or I, or anybody, take it from her? You 
must be dreaming. Evelyn is the only mistress of Mount 
Eden.” 

“ Oh, very well,” said Jasper, in an offended tone ; “ if 
you know better than I do, we will drop the conversation. 
Only, you might have waited till you had heard your hus- 
band’s side of the story.” 

“Jasper, I am waiting to hear it. You must tell me 
everything now, from the very beginning,” replied Agnes, 
slightly shivering, as she nestled in his arms. 

“It’s a sad story, Agnes. I must prepare you for that. 
I was a thoughtless and disobedient boy ( I admit so far ), 
but I was not the criminal they tried to make me out to be. 
And if, whilst I am telling it to you, I appear to throw any 
blame upon your bo-som friend, Evelyn Rayne, you must 
remember that you have only seen one side ( and the best 
side ) of her character, whilst I have had to suffer for her 
faults. She may well seem sunny, and bright, and good- 
tempered, when she has gained the desire of her heart in 
Mount Eden.” 

“Jasper, tell me the story quickly. I feel as if I could 
not bear the suspense.” 

“ Well, it it just like this. My uncle, Roger Caryll, was 
a rich Liverpool merchant. His wife and son were dead, 
and he had only two near relatives, Eve and myself. I 
was the son of his brother, Edward, and she was the 
daughter of his sister, Mary, but uncle never took any no- 
tice of Eve — he had never even seen her, I believe. She 
lived with her aunt, Miss Rayne, in a dirty little house in 
Liverpool, and I lodged with them. Uncle Roger put me 
there. I was his acknowledged heir. As soon as he heard 
my Cousin Hugh was drowned, he fetched me himself from 
London, where I was serving behind a counter (because 
my mother, who had married again after my father’s death, 
behaved very cruelly to me ), and put me in his son’s place 
in his office. That was about the time that photograph 


232 


MOUNT EDEN 


was taken, Agnes. I was as smart a young fellow as there 
was in Liverpool, — always well-dressed and well-looking, 
— and there were never any complaints of my want of 
morals or industry. And that was the time, too, that Eve 
took her unfortunate liking for me.” 

“ Eve took a liking for you ! ” repeated Agnes ; “ didn’t 
you like her , Jasper ? ” 

“ Yes, I liked her, of course. She was my cousin, and 
was always running about after me, and paying me compli- 
ments. Nobody is quite proof against such things, you 
know, Agnes, and most young men are conceited. But 
Eve mistook my feelings for her. She was very much in 
love with me> — I suppose I needn’t mind telling you that, 
my darling, — and she was always worrying me to take her 
out to theatres, and concerts, and places of amusement, 
and I was thoughtless, and in order to gratify her, I spent 
more money than I could afford. I don’t wish to make 
myself out better than I was, you see, Agnes.” 

“I know you don’t,” she returned, squeezing him to her 
bosom ; “ and as for poor Evelyn, how could she help 
loving you? I’m sure / can’t.” 

“ Ah, you're my silly little wife,” said Lyle, accepting 
the homage laid at his feet as if it were entirely his due ; 
“ but I’m afraid, as I go on, you will have to acknow- 
ledge, Agnes, that Evelyn has not so strong a claim to 
your admiration as heretofore. This is the painful part of my 
task, dearest, to be obliged to say anything derogatory to 
her, because I know how you have loved her ; but I will 
finish my story, and you must judge for yourself. I was 
then the acknowledged heir to my uncle’s fortune and 
estate. Every one knew it. Uncle Roger made no secret 
of it, and always treated me as his son. But the old gentle- 
man was very stingy, and when he found I had outrun the 
constable, he cut off my allowance, and left me without a 
farthing. Of course I wanted money for Eve, and other 
things, and a fellow-clerk of mine suggested we should 
raise some. I was a young fool, and didn’t know anything 
about such things, so left it all to him. He raised — as he 
called it — a hundred pounds, and lent fifty* to me, with 
which to pay a tailor’s bill. One day there was a row in 
the office, and I was questioned about getting the money, 
and told the truth, but uncle wouldn’t believe me, and then 
I found that the other fellow had been forging — actually 


MOUNT EDEN. 


233 


forging uncle’s name to a cheque, and declaring I was his 
accomplice, though I needn’t tell you I would have had 
nothing to do with such a dirty trick. But I was so 
frightened at the accusation, that I ran home to tell Eve, 
and consult with her what I had best do to prove my inno- 
cence, and here the unhappy part of the story comes in, 
Agnes.” 

“ Why 1 didn’t Evelyn help you ? She, who is always so 
ready to help others.” 

“ Well, she posted off to see Uncle Roger (whom she 
had never met before, mind you), and what passed between 
them heaven only knows ; but it changed the whole cur- 
rent of my life. She came back only to tell me that my 
uncle was resolved to prosecute me with the other fellow, 
though I was as innocent as the babe unborn, and that 
my only safety lay in flight. She dyed my hair brown 
(perhaps you will be surprised to hear that, naturally, my 
hair is almost as golden as your own, Agnes), and dressed 
me in a suit of girl’s clothes, and persuaded me to go to 
New York on board an emigrant ship. And I was so 
frightened, and she gave me so little time for reflection, 
that I actually did as she advised me. And then, when I 
had left England beyond recall, she made up to the old 
gentleman to such an extent that he brought her to live 
here with him, and left her all he had. Doubtless she per- 
suaded him that I was dead or .guilty, and trusted to my 
never turning up again. But (failing my Cousin Hugh) I 
was my uncle’s next male heir, and Evelyn Rayne is 
usurping my legal right to-day by calling herself mistress 
of Mount Eden. And that’s your unfortunate husband’s 
story, Agnes.” 

Mrs. Lyle was not clever, but she was not quite a fool, 
and the narrative (although glibly repeated) appeared to 
her to have more than one flaw in it. 

“ But why, Jasper,” she asked timidly — “ why did you 
suffer such a horrible wrong? Why didn’t you tell your 
uncle at once that you had had nothing to do with the 
forgery ? Surely the police could have found out who pre- 
sented the cheque ? ” 

Jasper Lyle did not appear to be at all proud of his 
wife’s sagacity. 

“ You’re a fool,” he said curtly. “ All women are 
where business matters are concerned. What would have 


234 


MOUNT EDEN. 


been the use of my denying my complicity when I had 
received fifty pounds of the money ? But Eve could have 
put it straight with the old man if she had chosen ; but she 
did not choose. She preferred to have me sent out of the 
way, and the only obstacle removed from her path. She 
may be very sweet to you, and all that, but she’s an arch 
plotter, or she wouldn’t be in her present position.” 

“ Still, if Mr. Caryll did leave Mount Eden to her, it is 
hers, ’’.persisted Agnes. 

“ I’m not so sure of that, my dear, nor are the lawyers 
either. The estate was left to Eve as next-of-kin, suppos- 
ing me to be dead, or outlawed. But I’m not dead, you 
see; and I can defy them to prove I was guilty; and, 
therefore, if I take this case into court, I stand a very good 
chance of regaining a part, if not all, of my legal rights.” 

“ But you would never go to law against Evelyn ? ” cried 
Agnes, horrified. 

“ And why not, my darling? Which do you suppose I 
love best — Evelyn or you ? For whose rights should I 
fight? Evelyn’s or yours? You are the real mistress of 
Mount Eden. Why shouldn’t I put you in your proper 
place ? ” 

But Agnes had burst into a flood of tears. 

“ Oh, Jasper,” she sobbed, “ I don’t want it. I should 
be miserable. I should be always thinking of Evelyn, and 
that I had turned her out of her home. I couldn’t do it. 
We are very happy as we arc. Why can’t everything go 
on the same ? ” 

“It’s very evident that you love Eve better than you do 
me,” said her husband, with an offended air. 

“ No, dearest, no. Don’t say that. I love you more 
than all the world put together. But Evelyn has been my 
friend so long — ever since I was a tiny child, and it seems 
terrible that 1 should be the one to deprive her of Mount 
Eden.” 

“You will have nothing to do with it, Agnes. All the 
blame (if there is any blame) will rest on me. But I am a 
man, and I cannot stand tamely by and see myself de- 
frauded of my inheritance. This position of dependence 
is one of agony to me, especially when I remember that 
my cousin only put me in it probably as a salve to her con- 
science. Why, she gives that fellow Philip double the 
salary she does me.” 


MOUNT EDEN 


235 


“ But he does twice the work,” remonstrated Agnes. 

“ That’s nothing to the purpose,” rejoined Jasper testily* 
“ The whole of the money should be mine, and I won’t put 
up with a part. And there are other reasons why you 
should be glad to think that this state of things will not go 
on for ever, Agnes.” 

“ What other reasons ? ” she demanded innocently. 

“Well, they’re rather difficult to specify, and a man gets 
credit for being conceited if he even alludes to them ; but 
it is impossible to keep one’s eyes quite shut, Agnes, and 
it isn’t every wife who would care to see her husband 
thrown into daily and hourly contact with a woman who 
is very much in love with him.” 

Mrs. Lyle grew as red as a rose. 

“ But that happened so long ago, Jasper. Surely 
Evelyn must have got over it by this time ? ” 

“ Did it appear to you as if she had got over it when 
she told you the story of her early attachment in this very 
house? What have you repeated to me on the subject 
yourself this evening ? ” 

Agnes was silent, though her bosom heaved violently, 
and her color came and went in sudden rushes. Jasper 
had hit the right nail on the head this time, and touched 
the spring that would make his wife see all things through 
the medium of his, interpretation. 

“ But — but,” she said, with dry lips — “ Evelyn would 
never do me such a wrong as to show anything more than 
an ordinary interest in my husband.” 

“ I am afraid you don’t quite know Evelyn yet, my 
dear. She is not likely to evince her feelings in your 
presence, naturally, — no woman would be quite so simple 
as that, — but there are a hundred and one ways by which 
she makes me understand that the past is not forgotten 
or forgiven. I suppose she expected me to come home 
and marry her ; as if I could when you stood in the way. 
But if you had seen what took place between us when I 
visited Mount Eden, and discovered my identity to her, 
you would have been horrified. She was like a fury. She 
declared I should never marry you, and that, if I attempted 
it, she would denounce me as an imposter and a forger, 
and have me turned out of Featherstone Hall. But I was 
firm in resisting her entreaties, and laughing at her threats, 
and what was the result? All her grand intentions ended 


236 


MOUNT EDEN. 


in smoke ; and, as soon as we were married, she was glad 
enough to get us to come and live at Mount Eden, where 
she could see me every day But I’m pretty well tired of 
it.” 

“ And I am more than tired,” exclaimed his wife 
angrily. “ I am disgusted and shocked to hear of such 
wickedness, and I will not stay here another day. Let me 
pack up my things, Jasper, and take me from this horrid 
place at once. Oh, I never could have believed that 
Evelyn would be false to me ! ” 

But this was swinging the pendulum a little too far in 
the opposite direction. To leave Mount Eden without 
any warning would be not only inconvenient, but im- 
possible, and Mr. Lyle had to resort once more to 
endearments to enforce his arguments. 

" Now, my darling,” he exclaimed, “ you must be patient, 
and look at the matter in a sensible light. I cannot take 
you away from Mount Eden directly. I never mean to 
take you away at all. It is because I have no money, my 
dearest, with which to gratify all your little whims and 
wishes, that 1 am thirsting to claim my rights, and place 
you in the position you are entitled to as my wife. If we 
offend Eve before my plans are ripe, we may never be able 
to carry them out, for I am afraid she is capable of being 
very revengeful where her inclinations are thwarted. So ' 
my angel must make up her mind to let things go on 
just as they have done for a few weeks longer, and then she 
shall do exactly as she likes.” 

“ But to live in the same house with her, and to think, 
whenever we are separate, that she may be making love to 
you — oh, it will be loo horrible ! ” said Agnes. 

“ Stop, d<ar,” interposed Jasper. “ I never told you 
that my cousin made love to me now. Do you imagine I 
would allow it? Evelyn knows me too well. I have 
satisfied her too fully of my allegiance to my little wife for 
her to attempt to interfere with it.” 

“ But if she would like to do so, it cotnes to the same 
thing,” replied Agnes fretfully. “You men are so fright- 
fully weak with regard to women, one can never tell when 
you will give in. I know. I shall never have another happy 
moment whilst I am at Mount Eden.” 

“ Well, as to whether my cousin would like to renew 
our former intercourse, I really cannot say,” replied Lyle 


MOUNT EDEN. 


237 


conceitedly, “but I am quite sure she will never have the 
chance. I don’t care for your big, strapping women, and 
never did. Besides, I have not forgiven her the trick she 
played in carting me off to America, and it will be a long 
time before I do. If I show her any forbearance when I 
have established my claim to the property, it will be out of 
respect to my uncle’s memory and not for her own sake. 
I can tell you that.” 

Agnes did not plead for her early friend this time. 
Nothing changes the current of a woman’s feelings towards 
one of her own sex so effectually, as the knowledge that 
she has tried to come between her and the man she loves. 
For the first time in her life, Agnes Lyle felt hard and cold 
when she thought of Evelyn Rayne. 

“ Jasper,” she said presently, in a weary little voice, as 
if all the surprise and pain she had gone through had tired 
her, “ why did you change your name ? ” 

“ For the same reason that I went abroad — because 
Evelyn persuaded me that I stood in danger of the law.” 

“ But when you saw the mistake you had made, — when 
you met me, — why didiTt you marry me under your own 
name ? ” 

“It was too late then, Agnes. To have resumed the 
name of William Caryll would have excited so much 
curiosity that I could not have satisfied. Besides, I was 
not aware of the position in which I stood with regard to 
Mount Eden. I did not know I had any legal claim to 
the property.” 

“ And how do you know now ? ” 

“ I have consulted a lawyer on the subject, and — and 
— I have ascertained also that the forged cheques which 
the clerk I told you of uttered have been destroyed, so 
that it is quite impossible that my cousin can put a spoke 
in my wheel by bringing of that old shoulder against me.” 

“ Then you will call yourself by your own name now, 
surely ? ” 

“Very soon I shall, dear. And till that time, I must 
beg of you, Agnes, to be completely silent on this subject. 
Not a word or a hint, mind, to Evelyn or any one. We 
must work in the dark awhile before we can bring every- 
thing to the light. And I hope you will not let what I 
have told you make any difference in your behavior towards 
my cousin, or I shall be sorry that I confided in you. Lot 


MOUNT EDEN. 


238 

everything go on the same whilst I carry out my plans, 
and some day you will see yourself the mistress of Mount 
Eden.” 

“ I will try,” said Agnes, in a low voice. 

“ And now, my dariing, will you go to bed ? You look 
very weary, and I want to go out and have my cigar — and 
Eve will be thinking it strange if I remain away from her 
much longer.” 

“ She will be trying to make love to you again,” said 
Agnes, in a tone of injury, as she buried her face in the 
sofa cushion. 

“ But she will fail,” answered her husband gaily, as he 
kissed her and left the room. 

“ But though she was wounded, and jealous, and 
unhappy, the last words the poor girl kept repeating before 
she cried herself to sleep, were, “ Oh, Evelyn, Evelyn. I 
never thought Evelyn could be untrue to me. However 
am I to meet her again ? ” 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE STOLEN PROOFS. 

But though Jasper Lyle made every excuse for his wife 
on the score of ill health and fatigue, and though Agnes 
herself tried hard to behave in all things as she had done 
before, it was impossible, as the days went on, that Evelyn 
Rayne should not distinguish a visible alteration in her 
little friend’s manner towards her. Had she not known 
Agnes ail her life ? You might as well expect a tender 
mother not to perceive when her child’s kiss becomes less 
frequent and less fond, or when her confidence is with- 
drawn from her, and stilted questions and answers take the 
place of free and spontaneous intercourse. There were 
moments, indeed, when Agnes was herself again, when she 
forgot everything except that Evelyn had never been other- 
wise than good and true to her. But then the remembrance 
of Jasper’s story would intervene to cloud her brow and 
check her flow of words. It was impossible that such a 
story should not exert a powerful influence over his wife’s 
mind. He had blended truth and falsehood together so 


MOUNT EDEN. 


*39 


cunningly, that Evelyn herself would have been astonished 
to hear his version of the past, and puzzled to say which 
facts he had perverted, and which related as they had 
occurred. And to Agnes — who still loved him and believed 
in him — it had naturally made him appear as a victim of 
circumstances who called for her deepest commiseration 
and sympathy. The idea of turning Evelyn from her home 
had been a terrible one to her until she heard that Evelyn 
had poached on her preserves, and tried to alienate her 
husband’s affections from her. That is a crime that no 
woman will forgive — even in her best and dearest friend. 
And so it came to pass that these two — who had been all 
the world to one another, until Jasper Lyle stepped in bc- 
tween them — drifted imperceptibly but surely apart, until 
they hardly exchanged anything but the merest common- 
places. To Evelyn, this change came as a very bitter 
trouble. Agnes had been her idol, and to see her turn 
from her to the company of others, or seek refuge in silence 
when they were thrown together, made her heart ache with 
pain. She guessed that it was due to Jasper Lyle’s influ- 
ence, but that made it all the harder to bear, as under no 
circumstances would she have dreamt of interfering between 
a husband and his wife. She tried to overcome it at first 
by increased caresses and sundry little votive offerings. 
But when she found that Agnes stirred uneasily when she 
kissed her, and left her presents lying about the drawing- 
room, she dropped all further attempts to alter the existing 
state of affairs. Evelyn Rayne was a very proud woman 
in the best sense of the word. She was not too proud to 
do the meanest office on earth in exchange for a kind smile 
or a grateful word, but she was far too proud to lay herself 
down as a door-mat for people to wipe their feet upon. 
She would not stoop to ask Agnes (who had never kept 
anything from her before) for the reason of her coldness. 
She knew it was undeserved, as far as she was concerned, 
and she trusted to time to make her friend see the truth for 
herself. But meanwhile, her heart was very heavy, and the 
color seemed to have faded from her life. 

Captain Philip knew she was in trouble. Often when 
he was talking to her of reaping, or carrying, or stacking, 
he could see that her thoughts were far away ; and some- 
times such a heavy sigh would burst from her bosom, as he 
had seldom heard her give vent to before. Had he cared 


240 


MOUNT EDEiV. 


lor her less, he might have spoken to her on the subject, 
but his great love made him timid, and he did not dare to 
mention it, far less to express the deep sympathy which he 
felt. But he showed it, nevertheless, by becoming absent- 
minded as well as herself, and being obliged to bring back 
his thoughts, with a jerk, to the matter in hand. 

‘‘You have never spoken to me, Captain Philip,” she 
said one day, abruptly, “ of Mr. Lyle. What do you think 
of him from a business point of view ? Is he perfectly 
satisfactory? Does he carry out your orders efficiently ? ” 

“ I wish you wouldn’t ask me, Miss Rayne. I know 
that Mr. Lyle is a friend of yours, and vou place me in a 
very unpleasant position.” 

“ But I consider it necessary that I should know. I 
wish to befriend Mr. Lyle and his wife, but not to the 
detriment of Mount Eden. You must be aware of that. 
Please tell me plainly if Mr. Lyle is injuring my property, 
— by neglect or otherwise, — because a great many com- 
plaints have reached me concerning him.” 

“ If you compel me to speak, Miss Rayne, I am afraid 
you will find that I corroborate most of the complaints. I 
not only find Mr. Lyle very unsatisfactory from a business 
point of view (in fact, worse than useless), but I consider 
him to be a dangerous factor on the estate. His indolence 
sets a bad example to his inferiors, and his conversation is 
likely to end by inciting them to discontent and rebellion.” 

“ Does he associate, then, on terms of equality with my 
tenants and laborers ? ” 

“ Very nearly so. He is constantly to be seen in the tap- 
room of the ‘ Green Man,’ hob-nobbing with such men as 
Mullins and Barker — neither of them bearing too good a 
character in their own class.” 

“ I must put a stop to it. It is going too far,” said 
Evelyn, with knitted brows. 

“ There is another thing, Miss Rayne, that I hardly know 
if I have a right to mention to you, and yet I feel I should 
not be acting as your friend, or rather, I should say, as your 
faithful servant — ” 

Evelyn turned her eyes upon him. 

‘ Why should you try to amend that sentence, Captain 
Philip ? You are my friend. I am well aware of it. Some- 
times I think,” she added sadly, “ you are the only friend 
I have.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


241 


m He colored like a boy. Captain Philip (notwithstanding 
his thirty years) had not lost a habit of blushing that was 
very becoming to him. 

“ If I only thought — ” he commenced, and there stopped 
short. 

“ Well ? ” said Evelyn, softly. 

“ Oh, Miss Rayne, your kindness puts everything I was 
going to say out of my head. I so much fear that you may 
think me presumptuous — that — that — Only believe that I 
shall be too much honored by being your friend, and your 
faithful servant both, to my life’s end.” 

Neither of them spoke for a minute after that, and then 
Evelyn said, — 

“ And what is this information which you are dubious 
about the propriety of repeating to me, Captain Philip?” 

“ It seems too far-fetched and absurd, Miss Rayne — too 
much like the outcome of a drunken jest. And yet it has 
gained credence amongst your people, and they declare it 
emanated from Mr. Lyle.” 

“ But what is it ? ” she asked impatiently. 

“ A foolish report that you have not an entirely legal 
hold on Mount Eden, and that before long a claimant will 
start up to dispute the property with you. It is too ridi- 
culous an idea even to be contradicted, but if it is one of 
Mr. Lyle’s jokes, the sooner he stops them the better, for 
you know what the ignorant classes are — ready to believe 
anything to the detriment or discomfiture of their^supe- 
riors.” 

“ Mr. Lyle has dared to say that,” murmured Evelyn, 
with clenched teeth. 

“ I honestly believe it commenced with him. When it 
reached my ears, I made strict inquiries for its origin, and 
everybody attributed it to the same source — Mr. Lyle’s 
drunken friend, Mullins the brewer. Of course you know 
how such stories grow by repetition. Still, there was never 
a hint of such a scandal before Mr. Lyle appeared amongst 
us.” 

“ Thanks, Captain Philip, thanks. Please say no more. 
It shall be stopped, and at once.” 

“ It is such a silly fabrication,” said the overseer ; “it 
bears absurdity upon the face of it. For there is no one 
who could dispute your claim, is there ? ” 

“ No one, except my Cousin Hugh. Oh, Captain Philip, 


242 


MOUNT EDEN 


you can’t think how much I wish sometimes that he had 
never died. It is a cruel kindness to leave so much respon- 
sibility on the shoulders of a woman. The back is not 
fitted for the burden.” 

“Yours has proved itself to be eminently fitted, Miss 
Rayne. You mustn’t lose heart because an ungrateful fool 
does not know how to value your kindness to him.” 

“ But this involves more than you think for, Captain 
Philip. It is a case on which I should have sound advice 
— and yet — it is so hard to know what to do for the best.” 

“ If I can help you — ” he began, but she shook her 
head. 

“ No one can help me just now. But if I find that I 
cannot manage matters by myself, I promise that I will 
apply to no friend before you.” 

“ I thank you so much,” he answered, in a low voice, 
and then Evelyn left him to return to the big house. 

She was burning with indignation at what she had heard, 
and determined to let Will Caryll plainly understand the 
only conditions on which he could retain his position at 
Mount Eden. To spread such a scandal about her, and 
sow disaffection and distrust amongst her tenantry ! 
What could he be thinking of ? Had he suddenly gone 
mad ? To depose her could not reinstate himself 
whilst she retained the forged cheques to hold over his 
head. It was all a puzzle to her. She could make neither 
head nor tail of it. But she was resolved to come to an 
explanation with her cousin at the earliest opportunity. 
When dinner was ended, and she found herself in the 
drawing-room with Agnes and her husband, it seemed a 
favorable time. They had sat through an uncomfortable 
meal, none of them appearing to have much to say to the 
other, and it was a relief to Evelyn to be able to take up 
her needlework, and feel that she was free to talk. 

“ Mr. Lyle,” she commenced gravely, “ I must ask you 
to listen to me for a few minutes. I understand you are 
still in the habit of spending your afternoons at the ‘ Green 
Man,’ and that it deteriorates (as it inevitably must do) 
from your dignity as my steward. I must beg you to discon- 
tinue the custom. It is not the first time (as you know) 
that I have been obliged to speak to you on the subject.” 

Jasper Lyle’s manner to the mistress of Mount Eden had 
become far more jaunty and familiar of late, and now there 


MOUNT EDEN. 


243 

seemed a ring of actual insolence in the tone in which he 
replied, — 

“ I was really not aware that your benefits to me included 
the supervision of my morals. ” 

Evelyn looked straight at him, but her gaze had no 
power to make him avert his eyes. 

“ I have, at least, the right, as your employer,” she said, 
“ to see that you do not lower the tone of my estate. No 
gentleman working under me before lias ever condescended 
to cross the threshold of a low public-house like the 
‘ Green Man/ nor to associate with the boors and drun- 
kards who find their pleasure there, and you must be good 
enough to follow their example.” 

“ Which, being translated, means that I am to tread in 
the footsteps of your model overseer, Captain Philip, and 
to regulate all my actions by his. But I am a gentleman, 
and I decline to be ordered about by my inferior.” 

“ Whether you are more or less of a gentleman than 
Captain Philip,” replied Evelyn haughtily, “ is, I should 
imagine, quite an open question ; but I have not started 
this conversation With you to-night in order to decide it. 
I speak simply as the owner of Mount Eden. Whilst you 
remain with me, you must conform to my rules, and that is 
one of them. I hope you fully understand? ” 

“Oh, yes; I fully understand,” replied Jasper Lyle, 
furtively smiling, as he played with a paper knife, whilst 
Agnes crept up to his side, and slipped her hand in his. 

“ From this unworthy habit of yours,” continued Evelyn, 
in the same grave tone, “ has sprung up a great annoyance 
to me. I cannot believe it emanated from yourself,- — I 
credit you with a little more sense, — but it is attributed to 
you on all sides, and it doubtless had its rise in your 
chattering.” 

“ And what may this be ? ” inquired Lyle. 

“A rumor that I hold Mount Eden on an uncertain 
tenure, and that there are other claimants to the estate.” 

“ Well ? ” he said carelessly. 

“ Well ! ” repeated Evelyn indignantly, “ if you have 
said so, sir, you know it to be untrue. You know that I 
am the legal owner of the property, and that no one has the 
faintest shadow of a claim to it but myself.” 

“ But supposing I don't know it? What then ? ” 

“ Do you wish to insult me ? What would you insin- 
uate ? ” 


244 


MOUNT EDEN. 


She spoke more cautiously than she would have done 
otherwise, because she had no idea that Jasper had confided 
the secret of his identity to his wife, and she feared to raise 
her curiosity. 

“ That you hold the estate only as next-of-kin, Miss 
Rayne, and that there is a nearer relative to the late Mr. 
Caryll still in the land of the living.” 

Evelyn could not believe her ears. Was it possible he 
could have the audacity to advance a forger’s claim to the 
estate? But she remembered the presence of his wife, and 
answered calmly, — 

“You are mistaken. My late uncle had only two male 
heirs, and they are both dead— one in reality ; the other in 
law.” 

“ That is what I have my doubts about,” said Lyle. 

“ Then your doubts shall soon be cleared up,” she 
answered, rising. “ I will go and write to my solicitor at 
once to come down here to-morrow and convince you of 
the truth of my assertion. I will not permit such hurtful 
rumors to be spread about Mount Eden without being 
refuted. There is not a soul on earth to dare to dispute 
my right to it.” 

“ Not even your cousin, Will Caryll ? ” he exclaimed 
impudently. 

His impudence made Evelyn forget everything but 
itself. 

“ My Cousiji Will ! ” she repeated. “ What ! a forger ? ” 

But now it was Agnes’ turn to exhibit her prowess, and 
she sprung forward in her husband’s defence like a bantam 
hen with ruffled feathers. 

“ How dare you call him a forger ? ” she cried 
indignantly. “ You know it is not true. You know it was 
the other fellow did it, and the blame was falsely put on 
Jasper. And now you would keep his estate from him, 
and everything. Oh ! it is too bad.” 

Evelyn turned to the speaker in unmitigated surprise. 

“ What are you talking of, Agnes ? ” she said. “ What 
can you know about all this ? We were speaking of my 
cousin, Will Caryll.” 

“ And I know that Jasper is Will Caryll,” replied Agnes. 
“ My husband has told me everything— how you made him 
go out to America, so that you might get Mount Eden, 
and how angry you were when you heard he was going tc 


MOUNT EDEN 


245 

marry me, and how you got him here, so that you might 
make love to him, and — ” 

“ Stop !” cried Evelyn, in a voice of stern authority — 
“ stop at once, Agnes. I refuse to listen to another word. 
If your husband has been base enough to give you this 
version of his unhappy story, you must believe him or not, 
as you choose. But I will not hear it repeated, and he 
knows it to be untrue.” 

“ I know no such thing,” interposed Jasper, braving it out. 
“ If I committed forgery (as you assert), where are the 
proofs ? ” 

“ You know where they are. You have seen them.” 

“ I know you showed me some papers, which you said 
were the forged cheques, but I had only your word for 
it.” 

“ Only my word ? ” said Evelyn, with a look of scorn. 

“ Just so ; which proves nothing.” 

“ Do you wish your wife to see them, then ? Do you 
want her to be a participator in your shame ? ” 

“ If you have them, by all means produce them. It is 
because I know you cannot have them that I desire your 
word to be put to the test.” 

“Very good, then. Agnes shall be convinced that I 
have spoken the truth. Come with me to my private 
room.” 

But as they were going there together, she turned and 
appealed to her cousin. 

“ Oh, Will ! have pity upon her. She is so young, so 
innocent. I would have hidden the whole story from her 
for ever if I could. Think how foolish you are — how this 
proceeding will ruin the prospects of both of you. Be 
warned in time. Come back and let us talk quietly over 
the matter, and take up the position I have accorded you 
in Mount Eden.” 

“ No, it is too late for such flummery now. You have 
heard what Agnes says. You told her a lot about our 
former history, and I have supplied the rest. Now she 
must judge for herself which is right and which is wrong. 
Lead on, please, to your sitting-room, and let us see these 
famous forgeries that are to ruin me for ever.” 

“ As you will, then,” she said, with a sigh, as she opened 
the door of her room. 

It was night, but a tall silver lamp on the centre table 


MOUNT EDEN. 


246 ‘ 

cast a soft light upon all the surrounding objects. Evelyn 
fetched her keys from the bedroom, and going up to the 
marquetrie cabinet, unlocked the drawer in which she had 
deposited the dishonored cheques. It contained only the 
soiled gloves and battered fusee-case. She turned the 
articles over several times, as though searching for some- 
thing else, and then, with a look of consternation, she 
unlocked all the drawers in succession, and ransacked 
them thoroughly, whilst Will Caryll stood by with a smile 
upon his face. 

“ Well ! ” he ejaculated presently, “ how much longer 
do you indend to keep us waiting? Where are these 
evidences of my criminality ? ” 

“ Gone !” she gasped. “ It seems incredible, but they 
are gone ! ” 

“ You mean they never were there ? ” he sneered. 

She turned upon him furiously. 

“ How dare you doubt my word, wnen you know, as well 
as I do, that they were there, and that you saw them ?• 
But I have guessed the truth. You are a thief, Will Caryll, 
as well as a forger, and you have stolen them !” 

“ Oh, Jasper,” exclaimed Agnes, flying to his arms, 
“ how can you let her speak to you like that ? How dare 
you say he is a thief,” she continued, stamping her foot 
with impotent rage at Evelyn ; “ this is your mean revenge 
because he didn’t marry you instead of me ! And I loved 
you so, Evelyn — I loved you so.” 

Here she began to sob violently, but Evelyn only 
showed her emotion by her trembling lips and quivering 
nostrils. 

“ And I have loved you too, Agnes, God knows ! ” she 
replied solemnly, “but you cannot hold by this man and 
by me at the same time. One of us you must let go. 
And that one must not be your husband, so I suppose that 
we must part. But I do not think I have deserved this 
treatment from either of you.” 

She rose as she spoke, and, locking her cabinet, 
prepared to leave the room. But as she moved in sad and 
dignified silence towards the door, a great sense broke on 
Agnes Lyle of all the years of love during which Evelyn 
had treated her like a spoiled and petted child. Who else 
— not even her father and mother, nor yet her husband 
- — had been so long-suffering and patient with her — so true 


MOUNT EDEN. 


247 


and faithful — as this dear friend of her childhood ? The 
idea of separation from her was terrible, and on the 
impulse of the moment she ran after her, crying. 

“Oh, Evelyn, Evelyn, do not go! We cannot do 
without you.” 

Put Evelyn's powers of endurance for that evening 
were at an end. 

11 Don’t touch me ! Don’t speak to me !.” she exclaimed, 
as she flew down the staircase, “ for I feel as if I was 
going mad.” 

She rushed through the hall, and out into the open air 
as she spoke, whilst the sobs which she could no longer 
restrain burst from her laboring bosom. She had 
recovered from the first shock of learning Will Caryll’s 
infidelity, and schooled herself to believe they must pass 
through life as acquaintances only ; for the man who was 
not worthy to become her husband Evelyn would - 
never make her friend. But that Agnes could turn 
against her, and suspect her of such unworthy motives 
for befriending them in their misfortune, was a trouble 
she had never contemplated being called upon to bear. 

It was the end of September, and, though the days 
continued bright and warm, and the harvest moon rode 
like a queen in heaven, the nights were too chilly for any 
prudent person to venture out in them without an extra 
wrap. But Evelyn walked on unheedingly, whilst the wind 
blew her chestnut hair into disorder, and ruffled it like an 
aureole about her burning and excited face. 

“Agnes to think me so base, so wicked, so mean,” she 
thought, “ as to offer them Mount Eden for a home as a 
cover for my own unworthy designs ! How cduld she 
think so ? How could Will have the heart to lead her to 
believe it, when he knows what she and I have been to 
one another? Oh, I hate him !” she cried suddenly, U I 
hate him ! He must be bad all through. Wasn’t it enough to 
spoil my life without spoiling my darling’s also, and 
grudging us the consolation we found in one another’s 
love? And those cheques, too. He must have stolen 
them. He has destroyed them, and on his success has 
built up a groundless hope of ousting me from Mount Eden. 
Can he do it, I wonder?” she went on feverishly, with 
both bands pressed to her burning head. “ I don’t believe 
it ; and yet the law has so many loopholes. I ought to 


248 


MOUNT EDEN 


have advice ; but if Will’s ideas are erroneous, and he is 
still in jeopardy, my confiding his design to a solicitor 
might bring transportation down upon his luckless head. 
And how terrible that would be for my poor girl, who 
never would have spoken to me as she did to-night if he 
had not instigated her to do so. How. I wish I had a true 
and sensible friend to whom I could go, without a shadow 
of fear, and tell everything.” 

Her steps had carried her in the direction of Bachelor’s 
Hall, and her heart told her that here was a friend whom she 
might trust, if need be, without stint, but some unaccount- 
able feeling made her shrink from consulting him. How 
pretty and cosy the little cottage looked as she came in 
sight of it. The latticed windows were thrown wide open 
to the air, and the light of the lamp within threw the deli- 
cate tracery of hanging leaf, and bud, and blossom, that 
fell over them like veils of verdure, into strong significance. 
The air was redolent with the odor of late mignonette and 
roses, still shedding their perfume around, and carnations 
and geraniums, of which Captain Philip always planted a 
deep border to encircle his little domicile. 

Evelyn looked up, and heaved a long breath as she drew 
near to Bachelor’s Hall. For many months past, her over- 
seer had interested her far more than she had acknow- 
ledged to herself, though she had been conscious of a feel- 
ing of fear lest he should become more necessary to her than 
was convenient. For he might leave her any day (she had 
argued), and then, how difficult she should find it to replace 
him. 

She did not intend to pass the cottage. When she had 
reached a certain point, she thought she would turn 
back, and walk the other way. But as she came within 
hail of the lighted windows, she glanced at them for one 
sight of Captain Philip. She expected to see him (as she 
had often done before) bent over his books by the lamplight, 
or ruminating in his arm-chair, with his pipe in his mouth. 
But when she had drawn sufficiently near to command 
the interior, she perceived the captain (to her amazement) 
stretched over the table in an attitude of despair, with his 
face hidden in his hands. In a moment Evelyn Rayne had 
forgotten her, own trouble, and thought only of his. Hur- 
rying on with noiseless footstep, and without reflecting that 
she might intrude upon a sacred sorrow, she stood upon 


MOUNT EDEN 


249 


the threshold of the cottage door, and said softly, but in 
a voice of the deepest concern, — 

“ Captain Philip ! Captain Philip ! What is the 
matter ? ” 

The overseer, whose thoughts had been far away in some 
cloudland of hopeless conjecture, started to his feet as he 
heard the words, and stared at the vision in his doorway. 
Then remembrance poured back upon him, and he realized 
who it was who had come like an angel to cheer his dark- 
ness, and glowed scarlet with the recognition. 

“ Miss Rayne ! ” he exclaimed ; “ what has brought you 
here? Do you require me? Won’t you walk in?” 

Evelyn had always a strong sense of the ridiculous ready 
to be roused in her. 

“ Do you think I may walk in,” she answered, “ without 
the whole parish scandalizing me to-morrow, Captain 
Philip ? Well, I’ll risk it, if only to learn what made me 
find you thus. Don’t tell me you are in trouble too, for the 
air reeks with it,” and she sunk down upon a chair in a 
despondent attitude as she spoke. 

“ If the air reeks with it,” he said gently, “ I cannot 
expect to miss my share, but I am sorry you caught me in 
a discontented mood, Miss Rayne. You may be sure I 
thought that I was quite alone.” 

“And I had no intention of disturbing your privacy, 
believe me. But why are you discontented, Captain Philip ? 
Is it anything to do with Mount Eden ? ” she asked 
anxiously. 

“Indeed, it has nothing to do with Mount Eden ; and 
yet, as I sat here this evening, I was thinking whether I 
should not be wiser to ask you to look out for another 
overseer.” 

She turned pale in a moment. 

“ Another overseer ? Then you wish to leave us — to — • 
to—” 

Her voice faltered. She could not proceed. 

“ Indeed, and indeed I do not,” he replied earnestly ; 
“ I love Mount Eden and everything connected with it — in 
fact, I love it all so much, it tears my heart to think of 
parting, and yet, Miss Rayne — ” 

“ I understand you,” she said ; “ you have had the offer 
of a better situation — a position more fitted to your abili- 
ties and education ; but if there is anything I can do to 


250 


MOUNT EDEN. 


induce you to remain — if I can increase your salary, or 
make you more comfortable, or — ” 

“ Do not mention it, Miss Rayne. Your kind heart is 
leading you astray. I have had no such offer as you refer 
to. I want no. more money than I receive. I am quite 
comfortable and happy here — ” 

“ Then why do you want to leave us ? ” 

“ Because — because — there is such a thing as being too 
happy in a situation — of becoming so much at home that 
it is death to tear one’s self away, and if the end comes, 
what then ? ” he said, in a low voice. 

Evelyn was gazing up at him as he spoke, with eyes of 
entreaty. 

“ If that is all,” she exclaimed, “ don’t leave me, for 
God’s sake, for I am so unhappy.” 

And with that, she lowered her face in her hands, and 
burst into tears. 

Captain Philip bent, over her, and said hurriedly, — 

“ Don’t do that, Miss Rayne, You torture me. I will 
never leave you if you do not wish it. I will live and die 
here if I can be of any service to you. If the thought of 
my going distresses you, dismiss it from your mind at 
once. I will remain if my^own heart dies under the pro- 
cess.” 

But she was weeping so unrestrainedly that she did not 
notice his words. 

“ Will you not tell me, in your turn,” he continued, 
“ what is the reason of your grief? I have seen, for some 
time past, that you are far more unhappy than circum- 
stances warranted you to be ; and I strongly suspect that 
it is connected with the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle at 
Mount Eden. Don’t look so astonished. Do you think 
I have so little interest in you as not to notice the varia- 
tion in your words and looks ? You do me a great injus- 
tice if that is the case.” 

“ I know that you have been always kind and good, 
Captain Philip, and I believe you to be a true friend. As 
I walked along to-night, I was longing to be able to con- 
fide my troubles to just such a friend as you could be.” 

“ And is that impossible ? Do not think me presump- 
tuous, Miss Rayne, but if the counsel or assistance of a man 
can help you out of your difficulty, trust me without fear. 
1 will respect your confidence as if it were my own. Has 


MOUNT EDEN. 


251 


this man been insulting you ? Has he presumed, on your 
affection for his wife, to overstep the limits of your forbear- 
ance ? ” 

“ Something very like it,” she said hesitatingly ; “ and 
you may suppose how unhappy it made me, for Agnes’ 
sake. Oh, Captain Philip, I am afraid that will turn out a 
most unfortunate marriage. I would do anything to save 
my poor girl from the consequences of her imprudence, 
but Mr. Lyle will end by setting her against me also.” 

“ You mean he has begun to do so ? ” 

“ I mean he has begun to do so,” she repeated, relapsing 
into tears. 

Captain Philip paced up and down the little room. 

“Villain! scoundrel! coward!” he muttered. “And 
to what purpose ? He only cuts his own throat by doing 
so. Miss Rayne,” he continued, turning suddenly towards 
her, “ you have honored me by calling me your friend. Let 
me prove myself to be so by speaking to you without reser- 
vation. You have known this man Lyle before. I guessed 
it the first time I saw you together. What is the secret 
between you ? I know it can be nothing dishonoring to 
yourself, but it may be the means of ultimate injury to you. 
Why do you keep him at Mount Eden ? Is it entirely 
for Mrs. Lyle’s sake, or for his own? ” 

Evelyn looked up at him with an expression of alarm. 

“ How did you find it out? How much do you know ? ” 

“Nothing but what I have told you, and that is only 
guess work, But I am certain there is more behind, and 
if it is turned into a means of annoyance to you, you 
should not keep it to yourself. 

His hand was grasping the arm of her chair as he spoke, 
and she laid hers gently upon it. The contact thrilled him 
through and through. 

“ If I dared confide in you,” she whispered, “ you don’t 
know how gladly I would share the burden which is 
becoming too heavy for me to bear alone. I am distracted 
with doubt and suspense. I cannot sleep for fear and 
anxiety, and I feel so completely and utterly alone. In all 
the wide word, I don’t know one creature to whom I form 
the centre of existence.” 

“ Yes, there is one, Evelyn, for whom you are the end 
and aim of everything, and that is myself l' cried Captain 
Philip passionately. “ Oh, forgive me if I am too pre- 


252 


MOUNT EDEN 


sumptuous in saying this ; but use me as you will, for I 
shall be your servant only to the last day of my life.” 

“ You — you — ” gasped Evelyn, with a face of crimson ; 
“ you care for me like this, Captain Philip ? ” 

“I care for you like that — just like that. I would be 
content to die if I might only see you happy and at rest 
without me — content to live, even without hope, if my dying 
would cause you any pain.” 

“You love me like — like that V' she reiterated, as if the 
idea were too astonishing for her to grasp. 

“ Yes, I love you, Evelyn ; and if to say it is to part us 
for ever, I must say it just this once. I have loved you from 
the first day we met. But don’t imagine I have cherished 
any wild hopes concerning you. I know my love is hope- 
less.” 

“ But how do you know it ? ” she interrupted him, with 
a tender smile. 

Captain Philip sprung back as if he had been shot. 

“My God! it is not possible,” he exclaimed, “that 
you have conceived any interest in me ? Speak, Evelyn, 
in mercy. Do not keep me in this miserable suspense.” 

She clasped his hand tighter, and drew him nearer to 
her chair. 

“ Don’t go,” she whispered. “ Stay on and take care of 
Mount Eden and of me.” 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

PHILIP THE COMFORTER. 

He sunk on his knees beside her, and threw his arms about 
her waist, and gazed in her glowing face for a few moments 
in silence, and then he said, in an agitated voice, — 

“ Dear woman, — so trusting, because you are yourself 
so worthy of all trust,— how can you say those sweet words 
to me, of whom you know nothing, except that I have been 
an honest and faithful steward.” 

“ And is that nothing 1 ” 

“ A great deal for Mount Eden, perhaps, but nothing, 
Evelyn, for your husband. I hold the position of your 
inferior — of one of the people. I may have risen from the 
gutter. How can you tell ? ” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


253 


“ Since you have risen, that is all that concerns me. I 
think people make far too much fuss about the differences 
of birth and station. Besides, I am of no birth myself. 
My family were all merchants. That is only one grade 
above tradesmen in the social scale.” 

u But you are rich, dearest. You have Mount Eden. 
And I have nothing — I am a beggar.” 

“You have ;//<?,” said Evelyn shyly ; “and Mount Eden 
and I are one.” 

“ But what will the world say to your marrying your 
overseer — your servant? Will it not be of opinion that 
you have lowered yourself by raising me ? ” 

Evelyn laughed merrily at the idea. 

“ Of course it will, Captain Philip. When did the world 
ever say anything that was kind, or generous, or soothing 
to one’s feeling? It would not be the world if it did. But 
surely you and I are above its petty malice — its sneers 
and its sarcasm. It is not happy itself, and it cannot bear 
to see others happy. But if you think that I can make you 
so ” — she added timidly. 

“ If I think ! Do I think,” he exclaimed fervently, 
“that God is truth, or heaven happiness? It would be 
heaven to me to call you wife, Evelyn.” 

“ Then you shall do so,” she said quietly, and Captain 
Philip stooped over her and took her hands in his, and 
bent his head down till his mouth rested on her own, and 
they had exchanged their first kiss. Neither of them spoke 
for some minutes afterwards. They felt that their newly- 
confessed love had received its baptism. 

“ I have so little to tell you of myself,” he said, when that 
long pause was broken, “ except what* you already know. 
My actual birth is not inferior to your own, — I can vouch 
for so much, — but my early life passed at sea laid the 
foundation of a rough-and-ready manhood. I need not tell 
you, my dearest, who have known me so intimately, that I 
am anything but a courtier. A rather sad and lonely boy- 
hood soured me too soon, and a sea life threw me on my 
own resources for companionship. So I grew reserved and 
somewhat morose, and looked for friends only in my books 
and my pipe, until I met your own sweet self, and you 
changed earth into a paradise for me.” 

“ What made you leave the sea ? ” asked Evelyn. 

“ It had always been an uncongenial life to me, although 


254 


MOUNT EDEN. 


I prospered in it. And then certain news concerning my 
family reached me from England, and I determined to 
return home and test the truth of it, and one thing grew 
from another, till I resolved to settle on land again, and 
applied for the vacant situation on Mount Eden. Do you 
remember the day I came down from London to see you, 
Evelyn, and the conversation we held in the library? ” 

“ Quite well. I thought you very nice, though rather 
brusque, and I made you stay to dinner. And in the 
evening we rode over the estate together, and — ” 

“ I fell in love with you.” 

“ Not so soon as that , surely ? ” 

“ Quite as soon as that, I think. I thought you the most 
practical, sensible, clear-headed woman I had ever met in 
my life.” 

“ Oh, that doesn’t sound nice at all. Was that all you 
thought ? ” 

“No, indeed. I thought a great deal more than I dare 
tell you, even now. If you think all my admiration of you is 
founded on your business qualities, you are very much mis- 
taken. But you are a woman above the incense of flattery. 
You will not need to be told everything. You will see it 
for yourself, as you will read my love for you, darling, from 
day to day.” 

“And you mine,” she murmured, with her hand in his. 

“ And now, dear Evelyn, since we have settled this happy 
matter (ah, how little I thought a few hours back, darling, 
that life would ever look so bright to me again ! ), won’t 
you tell me what it is concerning this fellow Lyle that so 
distresses you? Is it in consequence of the rumors I told 
you of this afternoon ? You are surely not so foolish as to 
believe it possible that your claim to these estates could 
ever be disputed. If you are, you may take my word for 
it that the man lies. , Your footing here is as secure as if 
you had purchased the land with your own money.” 

Evelyn began to look perturbed again. The allusion to 
Jasper Lyle had revived her former doubts and fears — 
doubts and fears which she felt now that she was bound 
to communicate to the man she had accepted for her hus- 
band, and who would share her disappointment if she lost 
her fortune and estates. 

“ I quite forgot that, Captain Philip,” she said, “ and you 
fhould have heard it first. I ought not to have accepted 


MOV NT EDEN. 


2 55 


your offer until I had told you of the risk I run of having 
to resign Mount Eden.” 

“ Let me hear it now, then,” he replied with an amused 
smile : “ it might make a serious change in my opinions.” 

“ Ah, now you are laughing at me, but I am in earnest ; 
were 1 not an independent woman, how could I be so sel- 
fish as to hamper you with the burden of my support— you, 
who live like an anchorite yourself? 

“ Oh, we should do very well, depend upon it. Perhaps 
the new owner of Mount Eden (is it to be Mr. Jasper Lyle 
himself, by the way ?) would retain my services as'overseer, 
and let us live on in Bachelor’s Hall. How would you 
like that, Evelyn ? Only we should have to change its 
name, and call it Honeymoon Cot, or something equally 
appropriate.” 

His nonsense made her smile. 

“ I don’t suppose there really is much risk,” she answered,. 
“ but it is right that you should know all. But before I 
begin my story, will it hurt you very much to hear that you 
are not the first man to whom I have been engaged? ” 

il It would hurt me much more, to think you kept back 
any portion of your life from me, Evelyn.” 

“ It happened a long time ago,” she said, slipping her 
hand in his — “ when I was a girl of seventeen. You have 
heard me mention I had two cousins. I was engaged to 
the younger of the two, William Caryll.” 

“ The one who went to America? ” 

“ Yes, but I have never told you the reason he went 
there.” 

“ I have heard it, my dear, from Mr. Gamble and others. 
He tried to embezzle by forging your uncle’s name, but the 
cheques were stopped at the bank. And then William 
Caryll disappeared, and has never been heard of since.” 

“ I helped him to escape justice, Captain Philip.” 

“ You did ! How ? ” 

“ He came back to me in his terror at hearing the police 
were on his track, and I hid him on the roof of the house 
for three days (the trap door to it opened from my bed- 
room), and at the end of that time I dyed his hair and 
dressed him in a suit of my clothes, and got him off to 
New York on board an emigrant ship.” 

“ Where did he get the money for his passage ? ” 

“ I had a little money. I sold a few articles of jewellery 
and realized sufficient for his need.” 


256 


MOUNT EDEN, 


“ Oh, you plucky girl. And it was all for nothing. You 
have never heard from him again ? ” 

“ No, I never heard from him again,” she echoed mourn- 
fully. 

“ I suppose he died out there, poor fellow.” 

“ No, Captain Philip, he did not die. He is in England. 
He is Jasper Lyle,” she said, in a low voice. 

“Jasper Lyle ! Good heavens !” cried Captain Philip, 
leaping from his seat; “William Caryll at Mount Eden — 
William Caryll the husband of Agnes Featherstone ! and, 
Evelyn,” in a tone of the deepest distress, “ do you love 
him still ? ” 

“ Oh, no, no. What can you think of me to ask such a 
question — I, who have just plighted my troth to yourself? 
Captain Philip, I did not believe you could do me such an 
injustice.” 

“ Forgive me, dearest. It was only a momentary, 
jealous fear. Of course you do not love him. But when 
did you find him out? ” 

“ Directly I met him at the Featherstones. He has con- 
tinued to dye his hair, and acquired a foreign accent, but 
I detected him through it all. I was very angry at first, 
Captain Philip. I rebuked him sharply for his infidelity 
to me, and threatened him with exposure. But when I 
came to reflect, I resolved, for Agnes’ sake, to let the past 
bury itself.” 

“ But how did he dare to show his face (disguised or 
not) in England ? Are there no proofs of his criminality ? 
What became of the forged cheques ? ” 

“ I hold them — no, I mean I held them,' and when I 
met Will Caryll, I showed them to him in proof of my 
assertion.” 

“ And then you destroyed them, I suppose ? That 
would be just like you.” 

“ For once you are wrong, Captain Philip. I did not 
destroy them, but — he has stolen them from me.” 

“ Stolen them ! Is it possible ? ” 

“ It is the fact. I know they were in my possession when 
Will and his wife came to live at Mount Eden, for I had 
been looking at them but a few days before, and my keys 
are always put away in my wardrobe. My cousin must 
have abstracted those keys and rifled the cabinet. Then 
he considerd himself safe. Don’t you see, Captain Philip, 


MOUNT EDEN. 


257 


that all these rumors he has spread about Mount Eden 
refer to himself? He is the claimant who is about to 
spring up and dispute my legal ownership of my pro- 
perty.” 

“Impossible, impossible!” repeated Captain Philip. 
“ He could not be such a fool. Why, if the forgeries had 
never been retained, do you suppose there are not a dozen 
members of your uncle’s firm ready to swear to his identity 
as the forger — Mr. Gamble among the number, who hat s 
William Caryll like poison.” 

“ But it is so far possible,” asserted Evelyn, “ that he 
has dared to threaten me with it only this afternoon. He 
has grown so bold that he has disclosed his identity to 
Agnes, and made her believe he is the rightful owner of 
Mount Eden, and I am an impostor, keeping him out of his 
estate. He has told her worse things than that,” she con- 
tinued, in a faltering voice ; “ he has insulted me and my 
past love for him, by declaring that it still exists, and that 
I asked them here only that I might have had the oppor- 
tunity of gratifying it.” 

“ I’ll soon put a stop to that,” cried Captain Philip, with 
clenched teeth ; “ I’ll see if the brute dares to insult you 
again. And this, Evelyn, is the man yoit loved ! ” 

“ This is the man I thought I loved, Captain Philip, but 
as soon as I met him again my liking faded like a dream. 
It was my belief in him that I loved — not Will Caryll. He 
is not worth the love of any honest woman. How I wish 
my poor Agnes had never met him.” 

“ Mrs. Lyle will not suffer under the infliction as you 
would have done, Evelyn. Thank God that you were 
reserved for me, all unworthy of you as I am.* But I think 
you will agree with me that your cousin must at once leave 
Mount Eden. After what has happened, he should not be 
suffered to pollute your presence for another day.” 

“ But I’m afraid he will refuse to go. He spoke this 
afternoon as if he had every right to remain — as if he dared 
me to turn him out.” 

“ We will soon see about that. Evelyn, will you trust 
this matter to your future husband ? Will you let me act 
for you, and bring this insolent pretender to his bearings ? ” 

“ Yes, Captain Philip ; I put it all into your hands. _ Do 
as you think best. Only remember how dear Agnes is to 

9 


258 


MOUNT EDEN. 


me, and that, for the sake of the past, I have no wish to 
revenge myself upon her husband.” 

“ I will respect your wishes to the smallest particular, 
and observe the utmost secrecy with regard to what you 
have told me. But William Caryll can only be effectually 
convinced of the impudence of his pretensions through a 
legal opinion, therefore you must let me confide the case 
to a solicitor. Shall it be yours — or mine ? ” 

“ Have you a solicitor? ” she asked innocently. 

“ I have. One who knows me well, and has been such 
a friend to me for years that I shall lose no time in intro- 
ducing him to you. I will run up to town and see him 
the first thing in the morning — that is, if 1 can be spared.” 

“ No, you can’t be spared,” she said affectionately. 

He pressed her closely to him as he answered, — 

“ You cannot think how my blood boils to think of the 
outrage to which your feelings have been subjected, nor 
how I long to chastise the offender. But you loved him 
once, Evelyn, and so we will deal as leniently with him as 
we can.” 

“ We can afford to do it,” she said, “ because we are so 
happy.” 

“ Are you happy ? ” 

“ So much so, that I don't believe I ever knew the 
meaning of the word until this evening. But it is growing 
late. It is past nine o’clock, Captain Philip, you must let 
me go.” 

“ Not until you call me something better than Captain 
Philip,” he answered, as they passed out into the night, and 
stood in the shadow of .the cottage eaves together. 

Pic was holding her in his arms, and she turned her 
head and laid her soft cheek against his own. 

“ Love, let me go,” she whispered, and then he loosed 
his hold reluctantly, and watched her figure flitting 
through the semi-darkness till it was lost to view. 


MOUNT EDEN. 


259 


CHAPTER XXV. 

• THE OWNER OF MOUNT EDEN. 

When Jasper Lyle saw his Cousin Evelyn fly from his 
wife’s caress and his own presence, and heard the unmistak- 
able anguish with which she exclaimed, “ Don’t touch me ! 
Don’t speak to me ! for I feel as if I was going mad,” 
he smiled with inward satisfaction, and thought that the 
game was won. 

He mistook her horror at his ingratitude for fear, her 
pain at Agnes’ unexpected accusation, for sorrow at the 
idea of losing her property. He had no more power of 
gauging the depths of her affections or feelings now, than 
he had had in the days gone by. 

All the women from whom he had gathered his expe- 
rience of the sex put together, had not possessed one-half 
the love or virtue of the woman he had deserted and tried 
to injure. But his selfish, shallow nature was unable to 
appreciate it. As he had been blind to the greatness of 
her heart, and the amount of the sacrifices she had made 
for him in the days of their youth, so was her nature a 
sealed book to him in the present. Even Agnes, with her 
small mind, understood it better than he did. 

She was awed by Evelyn’s sudden departure and 
agonized cry. It sounded like a wail of despair to her — - 
like the last farewell of some poor soul bent on self- 
destruction, and she crept up to her husband’s side with a 
face full of fear, and said, — 

“ Oh, Jasper, what will she do to herself? Hadn’t you 
better go after her and bring her back again ? Suppose — - 
suppose, she should really be going mad ? ” 

Mr. Lyle laughed at his wife’s simplicity. 

“ I should rather think she is, my dear — mad as the hare 
of March. The prospect of losing Mount Eden is enough 
to drive any one out of their senses. But don’t you see, 
Agnes, that the way in which Evelyn has taken the news 
only proves that I am right? The non-production of 


26 o 


MOUNT EDEN. 


those blessed proofs clears every obstacle from my path. 
She sees it for herself.” 

“ But, Jasper, “ said Agnes timidly, “ you didn’t really 
take them — did you ? ” 

Mr. Lyle’s indignation was sublime to witness. 

“I am surprised at your asking such a question, Agnes. 
You must be aware that no gentleman would be capable of 
doing such a thing. I very much doubt if the forged 
cheques were ever in her possession.” 

“ But Evelyn seemed so sure of it.” 

“ It was her policy to seem sure. When she saw that 
my suspicions had been roused with regard to the legality 
of her claims, she had no resource but to brave it out. Do 
you suppose that, if she had thought me in the wrong, she 
would have given way to that burst of temper and run off 
in that extraordinary fashion. She is a very clever woman, 
mind you, and has not been in possession of Mount Eden 
for ten years without ascertaining the exact grounds on 
which she holds her property. I heard that fellow Philip 
say, the other day, that her solicitor declares she is almost 
as good a lawyer as himself. Had she been sure that I 
could, by no possibility, dispute the possession of Mount 
Eden with her, she would have done battle to the end. 
Her rapid disappearance off the field has pleased me more 
than anything else could have done. We are all right 
now, little woman, and I shall see you the mistress of 
Mount Eden before many months are over your head.” 

But Agnes seemed anything but “ all right.” The 
influence of the old days was upon her again, the remem- 
brance of Evelyn’s love was overbalancing every other 
consideration, and she hated herself for the words she 
had said, for the wicked accusation she had made against 
her dearest friend. That Jasper had asserted it was true 
was nothing to her now. Even if it were true, she was 
ready to forgive it. She felt in this extremity that what 
she wanted, above all other things, was the assurance of 
Evelyn’s affection. 

Oh, Jasper, please don’t speak of it. If it ever comes to 
pass (which I hope it never will), it will only make me still 
more miserable than I am. I told you so before. How 
could I bear to take her place, — my darling Evelyn, — and 
reign in her stead. It would be impossible. Nothing 
should make me consent to it.” 


MOUNT EDEN 


261 

Jasper Lyle regarded his wife with looks of astonishment, 
mingled with contempt. 

“ Here’s a pretty thing,” he exclaimed. “ After having 
been the most unlucky devil in the world for the last ten 
years, my fortune seems about to change, and my wife 
(the woman who will benefit by it most) is the one to turn 
round and say she wouldn’t accept it. Why, you must 
be mad. Right is right, and. if it’s my right to own Mount 
Eden, you ought to rejoice at it. Hasn’t Eve enjoyed it 
for ten years? Isn’t it fair I should have my turn? And 
now you want to pose as a martyr instead of going down 
on your knees and thanking God He ever put it into my 
head to marry you. Pshaw, it is positively sickening.” 

But Agnes seemed quite indifferent to his sarcasm. 

“ If this really comes to pass,” she pleaded, “ wouldn’t 
it be possible to share the money and estate with Evelyn 
— that we should have half, and she half? It seems so 
hard that, when she has considered it her own for so many 
years, and taken such trouble to improve it, she should be 
called upon to give it all up. Half is more than we have 
ever expected to get, Jasper. Surely we can do so much.” 

“ No such thing,” he responded angrily. “ If the place 
is mine, it’s mine altogether. Indeed, I am not sure that 
I couldn’t call upon my cousin to refund what she has 
spent during her period of possession. I have heard of 
such things. At any rate, I am sure I could claim the 
interest.” 

Agnes’ blue eyes dilated with dismay. 

“ But I thought Evelyn and you had agreed that which- 
ever inherited Mount Eden was to share it with the other? 
Didn’t you tell me so yesterday, when I said it was 
generous of her to let us live here? ” 

Lyle looked awkwardly conscious. 

“ Well, yes, “ he answered, “ there was an agreement 
of that sort between us, in case we married each other. 
I think Eve was the one to propose it. I fancy she 
wanted to bind me down to marry her. But you see I 
didn’t, and so it becomes null and void. Don’t look so 
crestfallen, Agnes. I’m not going to turn my cousin out 
to starve, if that is what you imagine. I should make her 
an allowance, of course, and she could go and live with 
your mother, or — ” 

“Oh, couldn’t she live with us” interrupted Agnes, 


262 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ and let everything go on as it has done? Mount Eden 
wouldn’t seem the same place without Evelyn ; in fact, all 
the pleasure of my life would go with her.” 

“ That’s not very complimentary to me, I must say,” 
replied her husband; “however, don’t cry about it, for 
nothing’s settled yet, remember. I’m rather sorry, now I 
come to think of it, Agnes, that I showed my hand so 
openly to Eve to-night, because it is sure to lead to un- 
pleasantness between us ; and if the case is a long time 
settling (as these disputed will cases generally are), it may 
be awkward our remaining here during its progression. 
However, there’s one thing to be said for it. If I have a 
good case, I shall find no difficulty in raising money and 
we can go abroad whilst it is pending, and enjoy ourselves 
a great deal more than we can do whilst I have to work 
like a laborer on the estate.” 

But no prospect seemed fair in Agnes’ eyes. 

“ How I wish you had never mentioned anything about 
it,” she said, with a heavy sigh ; “ and still more, that I 
had kept silence on the subject. Will Evelyn ever forgive 
me, I wonder? And the worst of it is, that I don’t believe 
it. I only said it out of temper. If Evelyn has shown you 
attention since we came here, it has only been out of kind- 
ness. I am sure she would never be so false to me as to 
make love to my husband.” 

“ Very well, have it your own way,” replied Jasper 
carelessly. “You appear to me to be all on the opposite 
side, but understand me plainly, Agnes, your feelings will 
never stand in the way of my getting my rights. But there 
is no need for you to plead Evelyn’s cause in this ridicu- 
lous fashion to me. It is not likely I should ever let my 
own cousin want the necessaries of life ; indeed, I am not 
at all sure that I should not keep her at Mount Eden. 
But it’s a great deal too soon to discuss the advisability of 
such a scheme. Most likely Eve will marry, and have a 
home of her own. I fancy she would have done so long 
ago if it hadn’t been for my unworthy self. And now, as 
my lady does not seem inclined to honor us with her com- 
pany again this evening, I think we had better retire to our 
own room.” 

“ I wonder where she is, and what she is doing,” said 
Agnes, as she walked to the window, and gazed out upon 
the night. “ It is so dark, Jasper, and so chilly, and she 
had nothing over her head or shoulders.” 


MOUNT EDEN. 


2 63 


“ How can you tell ? She most likely picked up a wrap 
in the hall. Eve is used to take these late rambles about 
the park. I have met her out as late as ten o’clock/’ 

“ How shall we meet her to-morrow ? What will she 
say to us ? ” murmured Agnes. 

“ Nothing at all, if she is a wise woman,” replied Jasper ; 
“ but if there is any renewal of the discussion, I shall go 
over to St. Mary Ottery at once, and see Dickson on the 
subject. Otherwise, there is no hurry about the matter, 
and next week, when I go to town, will do.” 

“ Oh, put it off a little while, Jasper, darling,” said Agnes 
coaxingly, as she hung about her husband ; “ there is so 
little happiness in this world. Don’t disturb it until it is 
absolutely necessary.” 

“ All right, little one ; but it must depend upon the way 
Eve takes it,” returned Lyle, who, like most shallow-pated 
people, was absurdly sanguine of success in everything, 
and seemed to make quite sure that Mount Eden would 
eventually be his own. 

He spent the remainder of the evening in his wife’s 
room, telling her how he should alter this, and build up 
that, and improve the other, when the estate came into his 
hands, and especially how the very first thing he should 
do would be to kick the overseer out of the place. 

“I hate that brute Philip,” he said, “and have done so 
from the beginning. I believe he has what they call in 
Italy ‘the evil eye.’ Pie always looks as if he suspected 
one of being a thief, or a murderer, or something. I can’t 
understand what makes Eve think so much of the cad. 
She trusts everything in his hands as if it were his own. 
She can’t have got up a flirtation with her overseer, eh, 
Agnes ? What a lark if she had ! It would greatly sim- 
plify matters for us, though, for there would be no question 
then of either of them staying at Mount Eden. Don’t you 
agree with me, dear ? ” * 

But poor little tired- out Agnes was past agreeing with 
anybody. She had wept till her eyes were inflamed, and 
her head ached, and was still catching her breath, as she 
lay on her pi'low, like a child that has sobbed itself to 
sleep. So, after another cigar or two, Jasper Lyle thought 
fit to follow her example. Both husband and wife felt 
rather sheepish as they descended to the breakfast-table 
the following morning. Agnes (who had never met Ev^ 


264 


MOUNT EDEN. 


lyn yet without a hearty embrace) hardly knew whether 
she dared approach her, and was agreeably surprised when 
her friend came forward and saluted her just as usual, and 
spoke in a cheerful voice, as if nothing had happened 
between them. She was a little cool to Jasper, it is true, 
but still it was nothing remarkable ; and as the meal pro- 
ceeded, both the Lyles regarded her with furtive amaze- 
ment, for Evelyn was not only cheerful — she was positively 
radiant — although, with her native kind-heartedness, her 
spirits were occasionally toned down by the thought of the 
disappointment in store for her companions. For Cap- 
tain Philip had assured her that her position was safe, and 
she knew he would not have said so without good cause. 

Agnes glanced up at her timidly every now and then, 
until she began to question if the scene of the night before 
had not been a horrid dream. She thought Evelyn 
looked younger and handsomer than she had ever seen her 
do before. Her soft cheeks were tinged with pink — her 
eyes were deep and glowing — in everything she did was a 
kind of fluttering joy, as if she were not quite certain her- 
self if it were real or assumed. 

“ Will you drive this morning, Agnes ? ” she inquired, as 
they rose from table. 

“ Yes — if you are going,” replied Agnes, overcome by 
her kindness. 

“ I am not going to-day, my dear, but that need make 
no difference to you. I have some important matters to 
arrange and think over, and I wish to be alone. Will yo.u 
go ? ” 

Agnes longed to tell her what was in her heart, and to 
implore her forgiveness for what had occurred ; but, with 
all Evelyn’s courtesy, there was the slightest infusion of 
formality that made the words die upon Mrs. Lyle’s tongue, 
whilst she stammered out an affirmative instead. 

“ And for myself, Miss Rayne, I suppose I had better 
beat up the stackers at the Lower Farm ? ” said Jasper, 
with an assumption of being^completely at his ease. 

“ As you please, Mr. Lyle,” replied Evelyn gravely, and 
then she returned to Agnes. “ I suppose I had better tell 
you that there will be a couple of gentlemen to dinner this 
evening, as you may like to make a little difference in your 
toilet.” 

At another time Agnes would have been all eagerness tq 


MOUNT EDEN, 


265 


learn the names of the expected guests, and where they 
were coming from, but her heart seemed to have died in 
her to-day, and she turned away without putting a single 
inquiry on the subject. Both she and Jasper felt as if they 
had been crushed, and yet Evelyn had not said one unkind 
or reproachful word to either of them. But something in 
her manner seemed to have put an extinguisher over all 
their hopes, and, though they did not see her again until 
they met at the dinner-table, the feeling with which she had 
inspired them lasted all day. 

Meanwhile Evelyn sat alone, ruminating on her great and 
unexpected happiness. She felt that she wanted hours of 
solitude and thought to make herself familiar with it. And 
yet, when she came to - think of it, was it so unexpected ? 
Surely the love which she felt for the man to whom she had 
betrothed herself could not have sprung up in a few days. 
Looking back, with eyes from which the veil had fallen, she 
could see now the pleasure she had taken in Captain 
Philip’s society from the beginning of their acquaintance — 
the entire confidence she had had in his counsel and 
advice, the admiration she had felt for his goodness and 
truth, and the many manly qualities which combined to 
make him what he was — and recognize that it was more 
than liking that she had entertained for him. 

Yet, had Will Caryll never returned to convince her of 
his faithlessness, — had he remained in America, silent but 
unforgotten, — Evelyn might have gone on for a lifetime 
believing in her own fidelity to an ideal that had never 
existed but in her imagination. But now her self-deception 
was entirely swept away, and though, for the sake of the 
past, she desired to be lenient to her cousin, there was no 
one she more thoroughly despised for his worthless and 
contemptible character. 

She had but one regret concerning him — that her dear 
Agnes should have been ensnared by his plausible conver- 
sation and successful imposture. But that was irreme- 
diable, and all Evelyn could do was to make her future as 
bearable to her as she could. 

A dozen schemes to this end passed through her brain 
for the benefit of these two who had joined issue to insult 
and wound her, but she would decide on none till Captain 
Philip had returned to approve her choice. How sweet it 
seemed to the lonely woman to think that she had given 


266 


MOUNT EDEN. 


the right to some one to direct her actions for the future. 
The warm blood rushed to her face as she remembered 
what had passed between them the night before, and 
changed the current of her whole life. 

Captain Philip had started for London by the first train 
that morning to see his solicitor, Mr. Greville, and had 
promised to bring him back to Mount Eden in time for 
dinner. He was not a man to let the grass .grow under his 
feet. Once convinced that Jasper Lyle was persecuting 
Evelyn Rayne, and he would not let him stay under her 
roof one hour longer than was necessary. To think that 
any one should presume to speak slightingly of or to the 
woman for whom he would consider it too little to lay 
down his life, had stung Philip’s brave heart to the quick. 
Evelyn was brave, too, but he knew well how much of a 
woman’s love of protection lay beneath that bravery. Lie 
had watched the anxious eyes droop, and the sweet lips 
quiver, and the whole face grow fearful and discomposed 
when some difficulty presented itself with which a woman’s* 1 
moral strength was hardly fit to cope, and he had longed at 
such moments to fold her in his arms, and promise to 
shield her from all annoyances in the future. And now he 
had won the right to share her troubles and battle with her 
difficulties, and his heart was dancing with irrepressible 
gladness as he journeyed to London in her cause, and hers 
was glowing with satisfied content at home. Nothing 
could ever seem hard, or a subject for anxiety to her again, 
for he would be by her side to relieve her of all trouble, 
and take the burden on his own shoulders. She felt almost 
as shy as a girl of eighteen as she dressed herself that 
afternoon to meet her lover and his friend. Yet something 
in her nature made her shrink from making an alteration in 
her usual dinner dress of black cashmere, lest he should 
think that she imagined that her appearance could make 
any difference in her to his eyes. So she descended to her 
drawing-room a little before the usual time, looking just as 
she did every day, excepting for some extra color in her 
glowing face, and a bunch of Malmaison carnations at her 
breast. 

The travelers were very punctual. She had sent the 
carriage to meet them at St. Mary Ottery, and before she 
had been down three minutes, they were in the room beside 
her, Captain Philip grasping her hands with a pressure that 


MOUNT EDEN. 


267 


said, “ You are mine ! — you are mine ! ” whilst he strove 
coherently to introduce the white-haired stranger who 
accompanied him as his “ best friend, Mr. Greville.” Mr. 
Greville regarded his blushing hostess with greater earnest- 
ness than is usually accorded on a first introduction, and it 
made her blush the more. 

“ Forgive me, my dear young lady,” he said, as he ob- 
served her embarrassment, “ if I gaze at your features with 
more interest than is consistent with our slight acquaint- 
anceship. But I have heard so much and so often of Miss 
Rayne of Mount Eden, from this boy here,” laying his hand 
on Philip’s shoulder, “ that I feel as if I already were your 
friend. Will you be vexed if I say that he has told me 
everytliijig , arid that I have come down prepared to offer 
you both my heartiest congratulations ? ” 

“ Thank you,” she said softly ; “ we feel that they are 
due.” 

“ More so than you think for now, Miss Rayne. I have 
known Philip ever since he was in knickerbockers ; I have 
watched his career during' the period he has served at 
Mount Eden, and he is worthy of your highest esteem. I 
can say no more.” 

“ And that is too much, Mr. Greville,” cried Captain 
Philip laughing. “ Hold hard, do ! You are making me 
blush now.” 

“ Well, I will say no more at present, but before Miss 
Rayne wishes me good-night, she will acknowledge I have 
said less than the truth.” 

But here the conversation was interrupted by the entrance 
of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle, further introductions were gone 
through, Jasper scowled when he saw that the overseer was 
to be one of the dinner guests, and his manner towards that 
gentleman was hardly civil, but Captain Philip took no 
notice of it. Evelyn perceived, from the keen glance which 
he threw at her cousin, that Mr. Greville had been made 
acquainted with the family history, and she wondered what 
decision he and her future husband had arrived at concern- 
ing Jasper, and what measures they intended to take with 
regard to him. But she made up her mind that she must 
possess her soul in patience until the morning. Dinner 
was on the table. This was no time for business, and, 
indeed, she felt glad to think that poor Jasper would have 
a few hours’ respite, The disappointment would be hard 


268 


MOUNT EDEN. 


enough for him when it came. Meanwhile, she would be 
happy. She could not fail to be so. She had got her 
handsome lover back again, sitting next to her at the table, 
and she need trouble her head about nothing further. 
The matter was off her hands. Had he not said he would 
settle it all for her ? They were a merry party that evening, 
notwithstanding that Mr. Lyle felt himself lowered by sit- 
ting down to dinner with the overseer. Mr. Greville proved 
to be a most agreeable and talkative companion. Captain 
Philip was brimming over with happiness, Evelyn was 
softly and genuinely content, and poor little penitent Agnes, 
seeing her friend’s evident pleasure, took heart of grace to 
believe herself forgiven, and looked pleased as well. They 
were dining in the same room in which Vernon and Captain 
Philip had once sat with Evelyn, and which held so many 
portraits of her dead Cousin Hugh. The little lawyer 
seemed very inquisitive upon the subject, and would have 
the history of each separate picture in turn. 

“ A fine, handsome boy, evidently,” he observed ; “ what 
a pity he was lost — what an affliction for his parents, and 
yet, had he survived, you wouldn’t be sitting at the head of 
the table at this moment, Miss Rayne, and dispensing your 
hospitalities in such a graceful manner. I wonder what 
you would say if the door were to open at this moment and 
Cousin Hugh walk in to claim his own ? ” 

At this question Jasper Lyle smiled sarcastically, as much 
as to say, “ Her fortitude may be put to a similar test before 
long ; ” and Captain Philip gazed eagerly in Evelyn’s face, 
as though he would read there if she valued her property 
above himself. 

“What should I say, Mr. Greville? ” she answered 
smiling ; “ I should welcome him back with all die warmth 
of which I am capable, for the sake of his dear father, who 
was so good to me. I have often said (haven’t I, Captain 
Philip ? ) that I should never be surprised to see Cousin 
Hugh turn up again.” 

“You have, indeed; and I have often replied that I 
couldn’t imagine how a sensible woman could entertain 
such an absurd idea.” 

“ But all your protestations have not knocked it out of 
my head,” she answered merrily. 

“Yet Pm afraid it would be the cause of serious annoy- 
ance to you, Miss Rayne, all the same,” persisted Mr, 




MOUNT EDEN. 26 

Greville. “ Cousin Hugh’s company would hardly prove 
a compensation for the loss of Mount Eden.” 

“ Well, I don’t mean to say that I shouldn’t feel it a little 
— for other people’s sake as well as my own, Mr. Greville,” 
said Evelyn with a heightened color ; “ still, I am so happy 
in other ways that I don’t think I should grieve long. I 
am a bit of a philosopher, as perhaps Captain Philip has 
told you,” 

“ I am glad to hear that you are, Miss Rayne, for (do you 
know) I came down here to-day to put your philosophy to 
the test.” 

“ Indeed ! ” she said, with an incredulous smile. 

“ Yes, and I would have you prepare yourself for a 
shock. I am an old and intimate friend of the Caryll 
family. I knew your late uncle and his wife well, and 
stood godfather to their only son, and I have received 
credible information, Miss Rayne, that your Cousin Hugh 
is actually alive, and about to lay a claim to his father’s 
property.” 

“ I don’t believe it ! ” exclaimed Jasper Lyle, springing 
to his feet with an oath. 

“ You may not believe my statement, sir,” said Mr. 
Greville, turning to him, “but that doesn’t excuse you* 
want of manners at the dinner-table; besides, the matte* 
concerns Miss Rayne, and not yourself.” 

Everybody else had anxiously turned towards the mis- 
tress of Mount Eden. She had grown very pale, and her 
lips twitched nervously, but the first trembling words she 
uttered, as she laid her hand on that of Captain Philip, 
were, “ I shall not mind, if you still care for me.” 

“ Bravo ! ” cried Mr. Greville, jumping to his feet. 
“My dear young lady, forgive me for breaking the news to 
you so lamely, but your Cousin Hugh has really returned 
to England, and to prove my words, there he sits by your 
side at the present moment, in the person of your over- 
seer, Captain Philip.” 

Evelyn turned suddenly to Philip, who was gazing at 
her with all his eyes. She could not speak. The revul- 
sion of feeling was too great for her. But she grew as 
crimson as she had been white before, and her hand 
grasped his like a vice. 

“ Cousin Hugh /” at Iasi sne murmured incredulously. 

“ Yes, darling, your Cousin Hugh. You won’t love me 
the less for that, will you, Evelyn?” 


270 


MOUNT EDEN. 


“ But how — when — I cannot understand,” she faltered, 
in a low voice. ‘ 

“ Let me explain for him,” said Mr. Greville. “ When 
Hugh was picked up after that accident at Callao by a 
Spanish vessel, he did not care to let his father know that 
he was alive. He never intended to return home again, 
and he was afraid of being fetched home if he disclosed 
his whereabouts. So he went on serving in the merchant 
service until the news reached him accidentally that Mr. 
Caryll was dead, and had left the estate behind him. 
Then Hugh came home to me, and proved his identity, 
and I told him how the land lay, and that Mount Eden (in 
default of his existence) was in the hands of one of his 
cousins. He meant to put in his claim for it, but he 
thought he’d come down first and have a look about him ; 
and after that I heard no more of his pretensions, nor 
would he let me mention his name.” 

“ How could I have had the heart to turn you out, 
Evelyn ? ” said Captain Philip. “ Besides, I was very 
soon presumptuous enough to conceive a hope that some 
day you might take me in instead.” 

“ And you are my Cousin Hugh ? ” said Evelyn won- 
deringly. “ How strange it seems. I shall have to begin 
to know you all over again.” 

“I am your cousin, Hugh Philip Caryll, Evelyn, and 
sometimes I have wondered that you did not guess it ; we 
have seemed, whilst talking, to sail so very close to the 
wind.” 

“Oh, no. It never crossed my mind, although we so 
often spoke of him. How should it, when I believed that 
he was dead ? But now I know what it is that has always 
made your face seem half familiar to me — perhaps too, 
what has made my Cousin Hugh come to me so often in my 
dreams. Oh, how happy poor uncle would have’ been to 
see this day.” 

“ And so Mount Eden will not change hands after all,” 
exclaimed Mr. Greville gleefully. “ A charming arrange- 
ment, Mr. Lyle, is it not, sir ? ” 

“ Oh, charming, charming ! ” replied Jasper Lyle, who 
was glaring with dismay at the sudden disappearance of 
all his prospects ; “ nothing could be more so, and, from 
what I hear and see, I conclude I am to congratulate 
Miss Rayne on her engagement to her cousin ? ” 

“ Exactly so,” said Hugh Caryll ; “ but Miss Rayne had 


MOUNT EDEN. 


271 


already engaged herself to marry her overseer, Captain 
Philip.” 

“ Oh, Evelyn, Evelyn, can you forgive me ? ” sobbed 
Agnes, on the other side. “I am so glad for you, darling, 
and so miserable for myself.” 

Evelyn turned at once to fold the weeping girl in her 
arms. 

“ My own dear sister,” she whispered, “ there is nothing 
to forgive. They were not your own words. I felt that 
as soon as they were uttered ; and when you cease to 
believe them, they cease to pain me.” 

“ Hugh,” she said that evening, as they sat together, 
holding sweet converse in her private room, “ there is 
only one drop of bitter in my cup to-night, and that is the 
prospect of parting with Agnes. If she goes with Will to 
Italy, shall I ever see her again ? ” 

“ I don’t see why you shouldn’t, my darling, just as 
often as you please. Italy is not at the other end of the 
world, neither shall we be tied to one spot. What obstacle 
will there be to your visiting one another ? Greville and I 
have been talking the matter over to-day, Evelyn, and 
what I propose is, that we should settle five hundred a 
year on Mrs. Lyle, to revert to her husband at her death 
if he survives her. This income will be sufficient to keep 
them very comfortably in the land of his adoption ; and 
honestly, Evelyn, I believe they will be happier in Italy 
than in England. Will is a lazy, indolent fellow, who will 
prefer to lounge his life away, and after a while, when this 
unpleasantness has blown over, I daresay we shall all be 
able to meet on friendly terms.” 

“ Oh, Hugh, how good you are. Not one man in a 
thousand would forgive the slights he has put upon you as 
you do.” * 

“ My dearest, you forget he is my dousin as well as 
yours, and it is our duty to do something for him. There 
is one comfort — his wife loves him whatever he is, and so 
they can neither of them be quite unhappy.” 

Evelyn moved a little closer to her lover. 

“ No ; not whilst they have love,” she murmured. 
“ Love is the greatest happiness in all the world.” 

“ In all the world,” he repeated, as he pressed her 
closely to his heart. 


THE END. 






















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Is better than any soap ; handier, finer, more effec- 
tive, more of it, more for the money, and in the 
form of a powder, for your convenience. Takes, as 
it were, the fabric in one hand, the dirt in the other, 
and lays them apart — comparatively speaking, wash- 
ing with little work. 

As it saves the worst of the work, so it saves the 
worst of the wear. It isn’t the use of clothes that 
makes them old before their time ; it is rubbing and 
straining, getting the dirt out by main strength. 

For scrubbing, house-cleaning, washing dishes, 
windows and glassware, Pearline has no equal. 

Beware of imitations, prize packages and ped- 

dlers - JAMES PYLE, New York. 


LYDIA E. PINKHAM’S 


VEGETABLE COMPOUND 



ts A POSITIVE CURE 

For all those painf ul Complaints and 

Weaknesses so common to our best 
female population. 

It will cure entirely the worst form of Female 
Complaints, all Ovarian troubles, Inflammation, 
Ulceration, Falling and Displacements of the 
Womb and the consequent Spinal Weakness, and 
Is particularly adapted to the Change of Life. 

It will dissolve and expel Tumors from the 
uterus in an early stage of development. The ten- 
dency to cancerous humors there is checked very 
speedily by its use. It removes faintness, flatu- 
lency, destroys all craving for stimulants, and 
relieves weakness of the stomach. It cures Bloat- 
ing, Headaches, Nervous Prostration, General De- 
bility, Sleeplessness, Depression, and Indigestion. 

That feeling of bearing down, causing pain, 
weight and backache, is always permanently cured 
by its use. 

It will at all times and under all circumstances 
act in harmony with the laws that govern the 
female system. For the cure of Kidney Complaints 
of either sex, this Compound is unsurpassed; 


Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound Is prepared at Lynn, Mass. Price, $1.00. 
BIx bottles for $5.00. Sent by mail in the form of Pills, also in the form of Lozenges, on receipt 
of price, $ 1.00 per box, for either. Send for pamphlet. All letters of inquiry promptly an- 
swered, Address as above. 

































































































































































































































































































































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